Van der Waals heteroepitaxial AZO/NiO/AZO/muscovite (ANA/muscovite) transparent flexible memristor

Highlights: • A transparent flexible memristor based on the van der Waals heteroepitaxial grwoth composed of Al-doped ZnO (AZO)/NiO/AZO (ANA) sandwich structure on the muscovite substrate was fabricated. • ANA/muscovite memristor exhibits not only transparent and flexible memristor with the ON/OFF resistance ratio >10⁵, the stable endurance to 10³ cycles and the long retention time of 10⁵ s, but also the excellent electrical performances together with the mechanical flexibility, the durability and the thermal stability. • The ANA/muscovite memristor can work at various bending radii down to 5 mm, the mechanical bending after 1000 cycles at the bending radius of 6.5 mm and the high temperature up to 185 °C -- Abstract: Multifunctional electronics featuring optical transparency, portability, mechanical flexibility, light-weight and environment-friendly are of great demands for next-generation smart electronics. Memristor represents one of the important chains in next-generation devices as the information computing and storage component. Here, we design the transparent flexible structure based on van der Waals heteroepitaxial AZO/NiO/AZO/muscovite (ANA/muscovite) for a memristor application. The (ANA/muscovite) memristor satisfies all the hardest requirements of a transparent soft device such as optical transparency over 80% in visible light and high performance with a ON/OFF resistance ratio > 10⁵, stable endurance to 10³ cycles and long retention time of 10⁵ s. In addition, the ANA/muscovite memristor can work at various bending radii down to 5 mm, a mechanical bending after 1000 cycles at a curvature with a radius of 6.5 mm and a high temperature up to 185 °C, which deliver a pathway for future applications in flexible transparent smart electronics.