Electrical Bistability and Conduction Mechanisms of Zinc Oxide/Polyvinylpyrrolidone Nanocomposites Bistable Devices

Zinc oxide (ZnO)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) nanocomposite were synthesized using a simple in-situ reaction method and investigated as active lays in bistable devices. From the current voltage characteristics, we found that the device with ZnO NPs and PVP nanocomposites had an ON/OFF ratio two orders of magnitude higher than that with pure ZnO NPs or the simple blend of the ZnO NPs and PVP, which opens up a great opportunity to achieve high performance memory devices. We attributed the significant enhancement upon the better film morphology of the nanocomposite film and its better charge carrier storage capability as a result of the covalent bonding between the particles and polymers.