Highly Improved Performance in Ag-Doped BSA Films by Inserting the ZrO2 Layer for Nonvolatile Resistive Switching Memory

In nanoscale devices, bio-memristor has attracted more and more attention as a promising candidate due to its simple structure, fast switching speed, and low power consumption. However, the randomness of the growth and breakage of the conductive filaments will result into dispersed distribution of the switching voltage, and the performance of the memristor will be weakened. Here, we have improved the performance of Ag-doped bovine serum albumin (BSA)-based device by inserting one ZrO2 layer, such as reduced switching voltage, uniform distribution of set and reset voltage, robust retention, fast switching speed, and low switching power. Bendable memristors were fabricated on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) flexible substrate, which can be bent more than 500 times, and the electrical characteristics of different bending degrees have been compared. Furthermore, the device can degrade after 36 h in deionized (DI) aqueous solution. The overall performance of the memristor with the Ag-doped BSA device by inserted oxide ZrO2 layer has the potential to open up a new way to improve the reliability of oxides-based memristor and lays the foundation for flexible artificial synapses.