Ultraviolet-assisted direct patterning and low-temperature formation of flexible ZrO 2 resistive switching arrays on PET/ITO substrates

We demonstrate a low-cost and facile photochemical solution method to prepare the ZrO resistive switching arrays as memristive units on flexible PET/ITO substrates. ZrO solution sensitive to UV light of 337 nm was synthesized using zirconium n-butyl alcohol as the precursor, and benzoylacetone as the complexing agent. After the dip-coated ZrO gel films were irradiated through a mask under the UV lamp (with wavelength of 325-365 nm) at room temperature and rinsed in ethanol, the ZrO gel arrays were obtained on PET/ITO substrates. Subsequently, the ZrO gel arrays were irradiated by deep UV light of 254 and 185 nm at 150 °C, resulting in the amorphous ZrO memristive micro-arrays. The ZrO units on flexible PET/ITO substrates exhibited excellent memristive properties. A high ratio of 10 of on-state and off-state resistance was obtained. The resistive switching behavior of the flexible device remained stable after being bent for 10 times. The device showed stable flexibility up to a minimum bending diameter of 1.25 cm.