Nanoscale photovoltaic devices fabricated from nanoscale waveguides that receive, propagate, and convert incident light into electrical neural signals, and methods of using these photovoltaic devices for visual perception are disclosed herein. A visual neuroprosthetic device includes an array of nanoscale waveguides each nanoscale waveguide in the array having a photovoltaic material located between an internal conductor and an external conductor, wherein each nanoscale waveguide receives, propagates, and converts incident light into electrical neural signals.