Capping CsPbBr₃ with ZnO to improve performance and stability of perovskite memristors

The rapid development of information technology has led to an urgent need for devices with fast information storage and processing, a high density, and low energy consumption. Memristors are considered to be next-generation memory devices with all of the aforementioned advantages. Recently, organometallic halide perovskites were reported to be promising active materials for memristors, although they have poor stability and mediocre performance. Herein, we report for the first time the fabrication of stable and high-performance memristors based on inorganic halide perovskite (CsPbBr₃, CPB). The devices have electric field-induced bipolar resistive switching (ReS) and memory behaviors with a large on/off ratio (> 10⁵), low working voltage (< 1 V) and energy consumption, long data retention (> 10⁴ s), and high environmental stability, which are achieved via ZnO capping within the devices. Such a design can be adapted to various devices. Additionally, the heterojunction between the CPB and ZnO endows the devices with a light-induced ReS effect of more than 10³ with a rapid response speed (< 1 ms), which enables us to tune the resistance state by changing the light and electric field simultaneously. Such multifunctional devices achieved by the combination of information storage and processing abilities have potential applications for future computing that transcends traditional architectures.