Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Applied Physics A (2019) 125:18 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2307-9 Solution-processed flexible non-volatile resistive switching device based on poly[(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-(benzo[2,1,3] thiadiazol-4, 8-diyl)]: polyvinylpyrrolidone composite and its conduction mechanism Gul Hassan 1,2  · Muhammad Umair Khan 1  · Jinho Bae 1 Received: 8 October 2018 / Accepted: 3 December 2018 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Recently, solution-processed resistive switches for wearable electronics have got tremendous attention and are required for different applications due to their easy process and fabrication. Hence, this paper proposes the solution-processed resis- tive switching memory device based on two polymers, poly[(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt-(benzo[2,1,3]thiadiazol-4, 8-diyl)] (F8BT) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) composite, which is fabricated on a flexible indium–tin–oxide (ITO)-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate through spin coating technology. The fabricated device demonstrates a perfect non-volatile bipolar resistive switching through small operating voltage sweeping of ± 1.5 V, and its high-resistance state (HRS) and low-resistance state (LRS) are 92678.89 Ω and 337.85 Ω, respectively. To verify the non-volatility and long-term stability, the device is checked for more than 700 endurance cycles. During these cycles, the variations of HRS and LRS are 48 Ω and 37.35 Ω, respectively. The retention time is checked for more than 60 days, and the R OFF /R ON ratio is 274.31. The bendability is carried out up to bending diameters < 10 mm, and FESEM is used for the morphological characteristics of the device. Conduction mechanism of the proposed device is supported by space charge-limited conduction (SCLC) which is explained by the log–log I–V slope-fitting curve. The results insure that the F8BT:PVP composite-based resistive switching device is to be a potential candidate for the future flexible and low-power non-volatile resistive switching memory device. Abbreviations F8BT Poly[(9,9-di-n-octylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-alt- (benzo[2,1,3]thiadiazol-4, 8-diyl)] PVP Polyvinylpyrrolidone ITO Indium–tin–oxide PET Polyethylene terephthalate Ag Silver THF Tetrahydrofuran HRS High-resistance state LRS Low-resistance state V Voltage I–V Current–voltage SCLC Space charge-limited conduction 1 Introduction After the theoretical model of memristor proposed by Leon Chua in 1971 [1] and physical realization by HP research group in 2008 [2], the memristor was considered to be the fourth fundamental circuit element that relates electric charge and magnetic flux. Some researchers also named memristor as a resistive switching device that remembers its previous state of resistance even after removal of external power. Resistive switching devices got tremendous attention because of their usage in different applications such as digi- tal logic design [3], non-volatile memory [4–6], neuromor- phic research [7–9], and flexible frequency selective filters [10]. To replace the traditional transistor, the memristors have the potentials due to their simple structure, low cost, easy to fabricate, small size, flexibility, and high integration. Due to these exceptional characteristics, many researchers are motivated towards memristors to realize it as a com- mercial electronic component. Mainly, three categories of research are going on nowadays such as changing and * Jinho Bae baejh@jejunu.ac.kr 1 Department of Ocean System Engineering, Jeju National University, 102 Jejudaehakro, Jeju 63243, Republic of Korea 2 Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Hanyang University, 04763 Seoul, Republic of Korea