Electrochemical Synthesis of Graphene-Metal Oxide Heterostructure for Resistive Random Access Memory

Abstract

Graphene has a lot of merits for many engineering applications due to its unique physical, electrical and chemical properties [1-2]. Recently, a soft chemical reduction process of graphene oxide has been reported as a very efficient and safe method to fabricate a pure graphene film [3]. Also, the graphene-metal hybrids are fabricated by electrochemical methods in aqueous solution [4]. However, in spite of aforementioned enormous interests and efforts, the reduction mechanisms of graphene oxide and graphene-metal hybrid during electro-deposition are still unclear and controversial.In this study, the electrochemical characteristics of reduction phenomena of graphene oxide and graphen-metal oxide hybrids are investigated in detail. To investigate the exact reduction potential of graphene oxide and a variety of graphene-metal oxide hybrids in aqueous solution, the electrochemical analyses are accompanied by a cyclic voltammetry. The graphene-metal oxide hybrid film was electrochemically deposited on the conductive substrates using the cyclic co-electrodeposition method.Furthermore, we have confirmed that the electrochemically formed hybrid film could be used for a Resistive Random Access Memory(RRAM) device through the test of resistive switching behavior of this hybrid films. This novel fabrication method of switching layer will provide several advantages for nonvolatile memory, such as low-power consumption, fast switching speed, and more simple and safe fabrication process.