Metal-Free, Single-Polymer Device Exhibits Resistive Memory Effect

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 7; no. 12; pp. 10518 - 10524
• Main Authors: Bhansali, Unnat S, Khan, Mohd A, Cha, Dongkyu, AlMadhoun, Mahmoud N, Li, Ruipeng, Chen, Long, Amassian, Aram, Odeh, Ihab N, Alshareef, Husam N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 23-12-2013
• Subjects: Data storage; Devices; Electric potential; Electrodes; High resistance; Low resistance; Memory devices; Metal fibers; Voltage; polymer electrodes; flexible substrates; metal filament; solution process; resistive memory; PEDOT:PSS
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/nn403873c

All-polymer, write-once-read-many times resistive memory devices have been fabricated on flexible substrates using a single polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). Spin-cast or inkjet-printed films of solvent-modified PEDOT:PSS are used as electrodes, while the unmodified or as-is PEDOT:PSS is used as the semiconducting active layer. The all-polymer devices exhibit an irreversible but stable transition from a low resistance state (ON) to a high resistance state (OFF) at low voltages caused by an electric-field-induced morphological rearrangement of PEDOT and PSS at the electrode interface. However, in the metal–PEDOT:PSS–metal devices, we have shown a metal filament formation switching the device from an initial high resistance state (OFF) to the low resistance state (ON). The all-PEDOT:PSS memory device has low write voltages (<3 V), high ON/OFF ratio (>103), good retention characteristics (>10 000 s), and stability in ambient storage (>3 months).