https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06018-4
Regular Article
Improved resistive switching behaviour in Ag–ZrO2 nanocomposite film
1
Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, 110016, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, India
2
Research & Innovation Center for Graphene & 2D Materials, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
a
nkhare@physics.iitd.ernet.in
Received:
9
October
2024
Accepted:
14
January
2025
Published online:
30
January
2025
The resistive switching behaviour and nonvolatile memory effects in zirconium oxide (ZrO2) and silver nanoparticles (AgNP)-ZrO2 nanocomposite films have been studied. To explore the role of adding AgNP in resistive switching of the nanocomposite films, fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO)/AgNP-ZrO2/silver (Ag) trilayer structure has been fabricated by spray coating of AgNPs-ZrO2 on FTO with varying AgNP content in the nanocomposite film. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms the single-phase ZrO2 structure, with no additional peaks corresponding to AgNP due to its low concentration. Current (I)–voltage (V) measurement shows a decrease in switching voltage from 1.8 V for the pure ZrO2 to 0.38 V for 1 wt% AgNP-ZrO2 nanocomposite film. The cyclic I-V measurement shows an increase in the on–off ratio from 22 for pure ZrO2 to 32 for 1 wt% AgNP-ZrO2 nanocomposite devices. The retentivity measurement shows distinct on–off values for pure ZrO2 and AgNP-ZrO2 nanocomposite films over time. The temperature-dependent resistivity (R-T) measurements reveal that all devices (pure ZrO2, 0.5 wt% AgNP-ZrO2, and 1 wt% AgNP-ZrO2) exhibit semiconducting behaviour in the high-resistance state, with activation energy decreasing from 87.1 to 48.43 meV as AgNP content increases. In the low-resistance state, all devices show metallic-like conduction. Additionally, the temperature coefficient of resistance (α) increases from 3.54 × 10–3 K−1 to 5.15 × 10–2 K−1 with higher AgNP concentration. The value of α is increased for AgNP-ZrO2 nanocomposite compared to the ZrO2 device, suggesting that in pure ZrO2, only oxygen vacancies were involved, whereas, in AgNP-ZrO2 nanocomposite, both oxygen vacancies and Ag metal nanoparticles participate in the formation of conducting filaments.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.