Design and synthesis of conjugated polymers containing Pt(ii) complexes in the side-chain and their application in polymer memory devices

Abstract

We have synthesized conjugated polymers containing Pt(II) complexes in the side-chain with different main-chains via a Suzuki coupling reaction. These polymers exhibit bistable properties and can be applied in memory devices, in which charge transfer and traps are responsible for the conductance switching behavior. The devices could be defined as resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) with a high ON/OFF current ratio, excellent stability and high read cycles (10⁷). Furthermore, through the study of the electrochemical properties and theoretical calculations of the polymers, we investigated the significant effect of the polymer main-chain on the memory device performances. The device based on the polymer with a polycarbazole main-chain exhibited a lower threshold voltage and a higher ON/OFF current ratio than the device based on the polymer with a polyfluorene main-chain. Our preliminary results indicate that this kind of material offers promising opportunities for the development of polymer memory devices.