Resistive Switching in Polymer Nanocomposites by Matrix-Controlled in Situ Nanoparticles Generation

The fabrication of resistive switching devices is an important technological topic nowadays because they have been pointed out as the fundamental building block for the future neuromorphic computing devices. Among the different materials developed for this purpose, polymer nanocomposites with electrical bistability are of fundamental importance due to their several advantages in terms of flexibility, low cost, and sustainability. In this work we developed a method to tune the electrical response of various polymeric matrices by modulating their physical properties. Silver nanoparticles are grown in situ in different polymeric matrices by light-induced nucleation, and the formed nanocomposites show resistive switching behavior. Here we demonstrate the fundamental role of the hosting matrix for controlling dimension and size distribution of the generated phase, achieving a nontrivial relationship between hosting matrix glass-transition temperature and set/reset voltage.