Charge transport and low-frequency conductance noise in metal-nanoparticle embedded one-dimensional conducting polymer nanotubes: multiple resistive switching phenomena

Abstract

Metal-nanoparticle embedded benzene tetracarboxylic acid-doped polyaniline (MBDP) nanotubes have been investigated by charge transport measurements and low-frequency 1/f conductance noise spectroscopy for resistive switching (RS) applications. To improve the RS properties, MBDP nanotubes are prepared by in-situ reduction of silver ions (Ag+) on the surface of the benzene tetracarboxylic acid-doped polyaniline (BDP) nanotubes with the silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). The Ag NPs act like conformal active materials inside BDP nanotubes to effectively control the charge transport by modifying electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions. The RS device on the optimized MBDP (in Ag/MBDP/Ag – configuration) shows a considerable OFF/ON ratio with excellent RS characteristics. The transport results and conductance noise spectroscopy indicate that RS phenomena originated from current-driven space charge limited carrier drift and Columb blocked in transport channels. The RS devices exhibit no noticeable change in RS characteristics even after eighteen months of storage in ambient conditions. Furthermore, the MBDP samples significantly reveal two unipolar switching under varying applied currents and can be used to implement diverse functionalities, including symmetric complementary resistive switching (CRS). This work suggests a suitable route for advancing symmetric CRS characteristics for conducting polymer-based RS memory devices.