PAni-based complementary resistive switches: the effects of Ag on physical properties and switching mechanism

In this work, single-layered memristors were fabricated with a simple structure based on polyaniline (PAni), and the effect of different concentrations of silver was investigated. Structural analyses confirmed the successful formation of the emeraldine salt (ES) form of PAni as well as the presence of silver in composite samples. In these memristors, a simultaneous protonation/deprotonation process occurred under the influence of applying the electric field that as a new mechanism led to the forming-free complementary resistive switching (CRS) behavior. It was observed that the presence of silver affected not only the switching mechanism, but also the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic of memristor. Accordingly, at the highest concentration, silver changed its behavior from the non-Ohmic to the Ohmic one, thereby reducing the operating voltages of composite devices. Additionally, the retention time and endurance characteristics for 4000 s and 1000 consecutive cycles did not change significantly, indicating the stability of the memristors.