Biomimetic eye with hemispherical retina

Biological eyes are the most important sensing organ for many animals. Human eyes, which have a concavely hemispherical retina, are particularly notable for their wide field-of-view, high resolution and excellent adaptivity to the lighting environment. Biomimetric eyes with such properties are highly desirable for a range of technologies but the spherical nature of biological eyes poses enormous fabrication challenges. Zhiyong Fan and colleagues now demonstrate an electrochemical eye with a hemispherical retina made from a high-density array of perovskite nanowires that are sensitive to light, and mimic the photoreceptors of a biological retina. Aside from the structural similarity to that of human eye, this hemispherical artificial retina could have a much higher density of photoreceptors, so could potentially achieve a higher image resolution, which would benefit a range of applications from consumer electronics and robotics to scientific instrumentation.