Resistive Switching in Aqueous Nanopores by Shock Electrodeposition

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates stable resistive switching in aqueous nanopores using shock electrodeposition, enabling potential applications in biomedical devices, by overcoming instability issues in liquid electrolytes.

Contribution

It introduces the use of shock electrodeposition to achieve stable resistive switching in aqueous nanopores, a novel approach for liquid-state memristive systems.

Findings

Stable bipolar resistive switching for 500 cycles

Switching demonstrated with less than 10 seconds retention

Overcomes instability of electrodeposition in liquid electrolytes

Abstract

Solid-state programmable metallization cells have attracted considerable attention as memristive elements for Redox-based Resistive Random Access Memory (ReRAM) for low-power and low-voltage applications. In principle, liquid-state metallization cells could offer the same advantages for aqueous systems, such as biomedical lab-on-a-chip devices, but robust resistive switching has not yet been achieved in liquid electrolytes, where electrodeposition is notoriously unstable to the formation of fractal dendrites. Here, the recently discovered physics of shock electrodeposition are harnessed to stabilize aqueous copper growth in polycarbonate nanopores, whose surfaces are modified with charged polymers. Stable bipolar resistive switching is demonstrated for 500 cycles with <10s retention times, prior to any optimization of the geometry or materials.