Multi-state memristive behavior in a light-emitting electrochemical cell

Abstract

Carbohydrate-based block copolymers, such as maltoheptaose-block-polyisoprene (MHPI), were successfully employed as polyelectrolytes in a light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) to realize organic multi-state electrical memory. The observation of distinctive multi-state memristive behavior could be attributed to the controlled ion motion in MHPI and the electron capture capabilities introduced by its constituent hydroxyl groups. The newly developed sandwich-structured memory device is based on a LEC platform as the light-emitting electrochemical cell memory (LECM). Furthermore, the fabricated LECM exhibited excellent ternary-state memory behavior with high ON2/ON1/OFF current ratios of 10⁶/10⁵/1 as well as excellent stabilities for each respective state. The study not only illustrates the use of carbohydrate-based materials as promising electrolytes for LECM applications, but also provides a new horizon in the development of organic multi-state electrical memory devices.