Liquid–Liquid Interface-Assisted Self-Assembly of Ag-Doped ZnO Nanosheets for Atomic Switch Application

Abstract

Developing facile and inexpensive methods for obtaining large-area twodimensional semiconducting nanosheets is highly desirable for mass-scale device application. Here, we report a method for producing uniform and large-area films of a Ag-doped ZnO (AZO) nanosheet network via self-assembly at the hexane−water interface by controlling the solute/solvent ratio. The self-assembled film comprises of uniformly tiled nanosheets with size ∼1 μm and thicknesses∼60−100 nm. Using these films in a Pt/AZO/Ag structure, an atomic switch operation is realized. The switching mechanism is found to be governed by electrochemical metallization with nucleation as the rate-limiting step. Our results establish the protocol for large-scale device applications of AZO nanosheets for exploring advanced atomic switch-based neuromorphic systems.

Artificial nociceptor using an Ag/Ag2S/Pt atomic switch

“…Further, the t sw vs. V p plot shows two distinct slopes indicative of two different rate-limiting mechanisms. [30][31][32] Region 1 is found to be the nucleationlimited process 30,33,34 and region 2 is limited by the hopping rate. Similarly, in biology, different ranges of response speeds are found in thermal, mechanical, chemical and silent nociceptors due to the heterogeneity of the constituent ionchannels in the nociceptor network.…”