Nanocomposites of ferrocenyl-modified gold clusters and semiconducting polymers that integrate field-effect transistor and flash memory in a single neuromorphic device

We demonstrate that electroactive thin films incorporating semiconducting polymers and deterministic functionalized gold nanoclusters (ncAu25) lead to the integration of the functions of resistive memory device and field-effect transistor within a single component (“mem-transistor”) in a neuromorphic system. Memristor functions originate from ferrocenyl-modified gold nanoclusters (ncAu25-Fc) embedded in polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and devices optimized for maximum 1/0 “flash” memory effect are found to contain 15 wt. % ncAu25-Fc. Integrated memristor and neuromorphic functions are obtained by replacing PMMA with poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in the active layer, from which transistor effects are derived. Based on the energy band diagrams of ncAu25, PMMA, and P3HT, percolation theory is used to explain the memristor 1/0 on/off ratio as a function of ncAu25-Fc concentration. The use of ncAu25-Fc with charge-tunable, ferrocene-modified ligands is critical to achieve better cluster–polymer interfaces. Our work shows that nanostructures of polymers and metalorganic frameworks bear strong potential in the field of neuromorphic devices and circuital simplification of data storage technology.