The role of water in resistive switching in graphene oxide

The resistive switching processes are investigated at the nano-scale in graphene oxide. The modification of the material resistivity is driven by the electrical stimulation with the tip of atomic force microscope. The presence of water in the atmosphere surrounding graphene oxide is found to be a necessary condition for the occurrence of the switching effect. In consequence, the switching is related to an electrochemical reduction. Presented results suggest that by changing the humidity level the in-plane resolution of data storage process can be controlled. These findings are essential when discussing the concept of graphene based resistive random access memories. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.