Memory Devices via Unipolar Resistive Switching in Symmetric Organic–Inorganic Perovskite Nanoscale Heterolayers

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite thin films with nanostructured polycrystalline grains have shown great potential in various nanoscale optoelectrical applications. Among them, the field of electrical memory has fallen behind due to insufficient knowledge of the related resistive switching characters and mechanisms. In the present work, switching behaviors of perovskite memory devices are systematically analyzed by comparing them with organic memory devices. We found that decreasing the conductivity of a polycrystalline perovskite thin layer would lead to unipolar switching behaviors, which is supplementary to the present perovskite memory family where bipolar switching is commonly reported. Moreover, our proposed symmetrical device with a nanoscale heterolayer structure enables us not only to achieve highly reproducible unipolar switching devices but also to settle the argument whether microconducting channels exist within perovskite memory devices through characterizing the microscopic morphological homogeneity. Surprisingly, the scanning electron microscopy results show that partial 10 μm large perovskite grains would be decomposed into various 100 nm small grains under high external bias, indicating the presence of microconducting channels. Furthermore, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results together with photoluminescence results of the perovskite thin film before and after applying bias are nearly identical, demonstrating that microconducting channels are formed without any difference in compositions or optical properties. Our discoveries provide a practical strategy to achieve electrical storage via organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite thin-film devices.