Resistive switching (RS) is an interesting property shown by some materials systems that, especially during the last decade, has gained a lot of interest for the fabrication of electronic devices, with electronic nonvolatile memories being those that have received the most attention. The presence and quality of the RS phenomenon in a materials system can be studied using different prototype cells, performing different experiments, displaying different figures of merit, and developing different computational analyses. Therefore, the real usefulness and impact of the findings presented in each study for the RS technology will be also different. This manuscript describes the most recommendable methodologies for the fabrication, characterization, and simulation of RS devices, as well as the proper methods to display the data obtained. The idea is to help the scientific community to evaluate the real usefulness and impact of an RS study for the development of RS technology.

Photothermal nanomaterials have recently attracted significant research interest due to their potential applications in biological imaging and therapeutics. However, the development of small-sized photothermal nanomaterials with high thermal stability remains a formidable challenge. Here, we report the rational design and synthesis of ultrasmall (<10 nm) Fe3O4@Cu2-xS core-shell nanoparticles, which offer both high photothermal stability and superparamagnetic properties. Specifically, these core-shell nanoparticles have proven effective as probes for T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and infrared thermal imaging because of their strong absorption at the near-infrared region centered around 960 nm. Importantly, the photothermal effect of the nanoparticles can be precisely controlled by varying the Cu content in the core-shell structure. Furthermore, we demonstrate in vitro and in vivo photothermal ablation of cancer cells using these multifunctional nanoparticles. The results should provide improved understanding of synergistic effect resulting from the integration of magnetism with photothermal phenomenon, important for developing multimode nanoparticle probes for biomedical applications.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence techniques and future advanced robot systems sparks emergent demand on the accurate perception and understanding of the external environments via visual sensing systems that can co-locate the self-adaptive detecting, processing, and memorizing of optical signals. In this contribution, a simple indium–tin oxide/Nb-doped SrTiO3 (ITO/Nb:SrTiO3) heterojunction artificial optoelectronic synapse is proposed and demonstrated. Through the light and electric field co-modulation of the Schottky barrier profile at the ITO/Nb:SrTiO3 interface, the oxide heterojunction device can respond to the entire visible light region in a neuromorphic manner, allowing synaptic paired-pulse facilitation, short/long-term memory, and “learning-experience” behavior for optical information manipulation. More importantly, the photoplasticity of the artificial synapse has been modulated by heterosynaptic means with a sub-1 V external voltage, not only enabling an optoelectronic analog of the mechanical aperture device showing adaptive and stable optical perception capability under different illuminating conditions but also making the artificial synapse suitable for the mimicry of interest-modulated human visual memories.