Role of the solid electrolyte composition on the performance of a polymeric memristor

The role of the solid electrolyte composition on the properties of an electrochemically controlled conducting polymer-electrolyte junction (organic memristor) was investigated, with the purpose of optimizing its memory properties and non-linear characteristics. Along with electrical measurements, SEM imaging and FUR characterization were performed in order to correlate the results with the film morphology and differences in the vibrational spectra, respectively. Best results were obtained with a slightly acidic nature of the electrolyte dopant which allows to avoid the secondary doping of the structures and shifts the reduction potentials to negative values. The first achievement simplifies the technology of the memristor fabrication, while the second one allows to work in the pulse mode without any dc offset of the input signal as well as to fabricate complex networks of such elements without any risk to exclude some elements from the process of the formation of signal transfer pathways. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.