A self-powered artificial tactile perception system with self-protection functionality based on tellurene threshold switching memristor
Artificial tactile perception systems require efficient signal conversion and pulse encoding to emulate biological touch. Conventional CMOS-based approaches suffer from circuit complexity and high power consumption. This work demonstrates a two-dimensional tellurene (Te) threshold switching (TS) memristor with low high-resistance-state variation, enabling artificial nociceptive behavior and leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neuron emulation. The Te TS memristor exhibits abrupt resistance switching and low power consumption. By integrating this LIF neuron with a piezoelectric nanogenerator (PENG), a self-powered artificial tactile perception system is constructed. Under mechanical stimulation, the system demonstrates a self-protection function analogous to the hand retraction reflex. The bio-inspired architecture eliminates external power sources and reduces circuit overhead. Key performance metrics include stable threshold switching, low variation in high resistance state, and reliable spike encoding. This work validates the potential of 2D tellurene for next-generation bio-inspired electronics and human-machine interaction systems, offering a pathway toward energy-autonomous tactile sensing with intrinsic protection mechanisms.