Solution-processed flexible non-volatile resistive switching device based on poly[(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-(benzo[2,1,3]thiadiazol-4, 8-diyl)]: polyvinylpyrrolidone composite and its conduction mechanism

Abstract

Recently, solution-processed resistive switches for wearable electronics have got tremendous attention and are required for different applications due to their easy process and fabrication. Hence, this paper proposes the solution-processed resistive switching memory device based on two polymers, poly[(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-(benzo[2,1,3]thiadiazol-4, 8-diyl)] (F8BT) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) composite, which is fabricated on a flexible indium–tin–oxide (ITO)-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate through spin coating technology. The fabricated device demonstrates a perfect non-volatile bipolar resistive switching through small operating voltage sweeping of ± 1.5 V, and its high-resistance state (HRS) and low-resistance state (LRS) are 92678.89 Ω and 337.85 Ω, respectively. To verify the non-volatility and long-term stability, the device is checked for more than 700 endurance cycles. During these cycles, the variations of HRS and LRS are 48 Ω and 37.35 Ω, respectively. The retention time is checked for more than 60 days, and the ROFF/RON ratio is 274.31. The bendability is carried out up to bending diameters < 10 mm, and FESEM is used for the morphological characteristics of the device. Conduction mechanism of the proposed device is supported by space charge-limited conduction (SCLC) which is explained by the log–log I–V slope-fitting curve. The results insure that the F8BT:PVP composite-based resistive switching device is to be a potential candidate for the future flexible and low-power non-volatile resistive switching memory device.