Controlling the Electrochemical Metallization in a Nanocellulose-Based Resistive Memory Device through Interface Engineering

Biomaterials hold great potential for the development of green electronics owing to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and sustainability. With an immense amount of data generation and digitization, the urge for emerging memory devices has also spiked in recent times. Herein, we present an environment-friendly memory device comprising a nanocellulose/zinc oxide (ZnO) bilayer for stable resistive memory application, where silver (Ag) and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) are used as the active and counter electrodes, respectively. Steady bipolar resistive memory characteristics could be observed with the current ON/OFF ratio > 10² and at a low switching voltage (less than ±0.4 V). The switching mechanism could be hypothesized with the Ag⁺ migration from the active electrode, which could be controlled by the introduction of a ZnO layer resulting in an interfacial electric field. The Ag/nanocellulose/ZnO/FTO device could also retain the resistive memory features after water treatment and 30 days of stowing in vacuum.