Graphene oxide (GO)/reduced-GO and their composite with conducting polymer nanostructure thin films for non-volatile memory device

•Surface morphology and microstructures are studied by TEM and Raman spectra.•Electrical property was studied by voltage (V)–current (I) relationships.•Voltage (V)–resistance (ρ) hysteresis loops shows non-volatile memory behavior.•Non-volatile memory study by polarization (P)–electric fields (E) hysteresis loops.

Graphene oxide (GO) was prepared by the conventional Hummer’s method and subsequently reduced (rGO) by the reduction process using hydrazine hydrate. Further, GO/rGO’s based composite with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT-PSS) conducting polymer (CP) was prepared. The GO/rGO and CP-GO/rGO thin films were deposited on silicon substrate by drop-casting followed by air drying. Raman Spectroscopy, voltage–current (I–V) and polarization–electric field (P–E) measurements have been carried out to study the micro-structural, electrical and ferroelectric behaviors of GO/rGO and CP-GO/rGO thin films to understand the possibility of fabrication of non-volatile memory device. The linear voltage–current (I–V) relationship shows that the GO thin film behaves as semiconducting whereas rGO thin film behaves like conducting materials that are consistence with the results obtained from Raman spectroscopy measurement. The synthesized GO shows the symmetric log J–V curve with good hysteresis loop; whereas rGO shows similar symmetric curve with very small hysteresis loop. The CP-GO/rGO shows symmetric log J–V curve with very small hysteresis loop on the positive voltage side. The polarization–electric field (P–E) measurements shows that the polarization behavior of rGO is an ideal resistor response; whereas GO and CP-GO/rGO’s have lossy capacitor response (with the combined effects of capacitor and resistor) that are consistence with I–V measurements and could be used for non-volatile memory device.

Graphical abstractTEM images of (a) GO and (b) CP-GO; P–E hysteresis loops (c, d) and J–V loops (e, f) of GO, CP-GO, respectively.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide