Highly reliable memristive devices with synaptic behavior via facilitating ion transport of the zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 embedded into a polyvinylpyrrolidone polymer matrix

Highlights: • The zeolitic-imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) is suggested for use as a memristive filler. • The digital data storage and the analog data processing capabilities of the memristive device consisting of ZIF-8:PVP were investigated. • Due to the ionic-trapping effect of ZIF-8, the device showed reliable non-volatile resistance switching behavior, as well as fundamental synaptic properties. Composite-based memristive devices have attracted tremendous attention as promising applications in futuristic information technologies due to their synergetic effects between the solid filler and the polymer matrix for enabling versatile information processing. Here, we demonstrate the digital data storing and the analog data processing capabilities of artificial synapses consisting of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF 8):polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) hybrid nanocomposites. The composite-based devices exhibited excellent resistive switching behaviors with reliable operating voltage (1.24 ± 0.12 and −2.75 ± 0.33 V) and a large R_ON/R_OFF ratio (7.8 × 10³) for 500 repeated resistance switching cycles. The fundamental synaptic behaviors in neuromorphic systems, such as potentiation/depression, transitions from short-term to long-term memory, and the biological learning rules of spiking time-dependent plasticity, were imitated. Finally, via structural and theoretical analyses, we demonstrated that the excellent memristive behaviors were due to the ion trapping effect of the ZIF-8 nanoparticles in the ZIF-8:PVP hybrid composite film.