Unable to click search icon to perform search

Hello guyz,

I have this code:

<ion-content padding="true" class="has-header">
    <form id="search-form2" class="list">
      <label class="item item-input" id="search-search2">
        <i class="icon ion-search placeholder-icon"></i>
        <input type="search" placeholder="{{staticLabels.whatToSearch}}" ng-model="vModel.searchText">
      </label>
    </form>
  </ion-content>

Search bar only works if someone press enter after typing keywords, but I want user to also click to search icon to perform the search.

I tried :
<i class="icon ion-search placeholder-icon" ng-click="vModel.somefxn()"></i>

but it does not work… ANY IDEAS???