The first study addressing the experimental convergence between in vitro spiking neurons and spiking memristors was attempted in 2013 (Gater et al., 2013). A few years later, Gupta et al. (2016) used TiO₂ memristors to compress information on biological neural spikes recorded in real time. In these in vitro studies electrical communication with biological cells, as well as their incubation, was investigated using multielectrode arrays (MEAs). Alternatively, TiO₂ thin films may serve as an interface material in various biohybrid devices. The bio- and neurocompatibility of a TiO₂ film has been demonstrated in terms of its excellent adsorption of polylysine and primary neuronal cultures, high vitality, and electrophysiological activity (Roncador et al., 2017). Thus, TiO₂ can be implemented as a nanobiointerface coating and integrated with memristive electronics either as a planar configuration of memristors and electrodes (Illarionov et al., 2019) or as a functionalization of MEAs to provide good cell adhesion and signal transmission. The known examples are electrolyte/TiO₂/Si(p-type) capacitors (Schoen and Fromherz, 2008) or capacitive TiO₂/Al electrodes (Serb et al., 2020). As a demonstration of the state of the art, an attempt at memristive interlinking between the brain and brain-inspired devices has been recently reported (Serb et al., 2020). The long-term potentiation and depression of TiO₂-based memristive synapses have been demonstrated in relation to the neuronal firing rates of biologically active cells. Further advancement in this area is expected to result in scalable on-node processors for brain–chip interfaces (Gupta et al., 2016). As of 2017, the state of the art of, and perspectives on, coupling between the resistive switching devices and biological neurons have been reviewed (Chiolerio et al., 2017).

Pure titanium dioxide is a fine, white powder that provides a bright, white pigment. Titanium dioxide has been used for a century in a range of industrial and consumer products, including paints, coatings, adhesives, paper, plastics and rubber, printing inks, coated fabrics and textiles, as well as ceramics, floor coverings, roofing materials, cosmetics, toothpaste, soap, water treatment agents, pharmaceuticals, food colorants, automotive products, sunscreen and catalysts.