Hybrid organic–inorganic liquid bistable memory devices

We demonstrate the realization of the first liquid nonvolatile rewritable memories relying on a blend of liquid carbazole and silver nanoparticles. When an external bias voltage is applied across this single active layer based structure, a bistable current with an ON/OFF ratio of about 2 × 102 is observed. Write–read–erase cycles and recorded information stability are also demonstrated. This study provides evidence that hybrid materials hold unexplored promises for original nonvolatile flash memories and should stimulate strong interest in the area of low-cost, large area, flexible data storage devices.

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► Realization of the first organic liquid bistable memories.
► The active layer of the devices is based on a blend of liquid carbazole and silver nanoparticles.
► Electrical bistability is attributed to charge trapping/detrapping effects within the silver nanoparticles.
► This study is an important step towards the development of organic liquid optoelectronic devices.