Control of conductive filament growth in flexible organic memristor by polymer alignment

This study investigates the dynamics for conductive filament growth in organic memristors from the viewpoint of the ionic transport by controlling the ordering of polymer molecules. Furthermore, we propose a simplistic and novel approach to improving the reliability of the devices by confining conductive filament growth. It is observed that conductive filament growth is varied with the polymer molecular ordering that governs the ion pathways. In the device with the aligned polymer electrolyte, conductive filament growth is realized only in a localized region due to the confinement of the ion pathways by the aligned polymer molecules. Our flexible organic memristor consisting of the homeotropically aligned polymer shows the reliable resistive switching characteristics and stable mechanical flexibility. This observed principle of conductive filament growth in the polymer electrolyte will provide a physical understanding of conductive filament growth in organic memristors, and useful guidelines for developing a new class of flexible neuromorphic electronics.