ORGANIC MEMRISTOR

Abstract

An electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor has improved performance and lower power requirements through the use of highly conductive polymers, including ionomer, such as sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene based fluoropolymer-copolymer. These ionomers may be more conductive and may have a low equivalent weight. The ionomer may be reinforced with a support material, such as a thin porous polymer. The thickness of the layer may be reduced to no more than about 50 microns and in some cases no more than 5 microns. Other ionomer polymers include highly functionalized styrene-butadiene copolymers and biphynl based ionomers.

Claims

1. An electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor comprising: a) an ionomer layer comprising an ionomer and having a thickness of no more than 100 microns thick; b) electrodes configured on either side of the ionomer layer.

2. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the ionomer layer comprises a reinforcement layer that is porous and has a plurality of pores.

3. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 2, wherein the ionomer is configured in the plurality of pores of the reinforcement layer.

4. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 3, wherein the reinforcement layer comprises a porous polymer.

5. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 4, wherein the reinforcement layer comprises a porous fluoropolymer.

6. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 5, wherein the reinforcement layer comprises an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene.

7. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the thickness is no more than 50 microns.

8. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the thickness is no more than 25 microns.

9. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the thickness is no more than 10 microns.

10. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the thickness is no more than 5 microns.

11. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the ionomer has an equivalent weight of no more than 1000.

12. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the ionomer has an equivalent weight of no more than 800.

13. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the ionomer comprises sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene based fluoropolymer-copolymer (NAFION).

14. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the ionomer comprises perfluorosulfonic acid polymer.

15. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the ionomer comprises highly functionalized styrene-butadiene copolymers.

16. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the ionomer comprises Biphynl based ionomers.

17. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the electrode comprises a polythiophene oligomer.

18. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the electrode comprises styrene-butadiene copolymers.

19. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the electrode comprises Biphynl based ionomers.

20. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 1, wherein the electrode comprises a functional moiety.

21. The electrochemical neuromorphic organic device (ENODe) memristor of claim 20, wherein the functional moiety is modified with sulfonic acid.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0039] FIG. 1 shows a cross sectional view of an exemplary organic memristors.

[0040] FIG. 2 shows a cross sectional view of an exemplary organic memristors.

[0041] FIG. 3 is a scanning electron micrograph of the surface of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene.

[0042] Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the figures. The figures represent an illustration of some of the embodiments of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner. Further, the figures are not necessarily to scale, some features may be exaggerated to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

[0043] As used herein, the terms comprises, comprising, includes, including, has, having or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Also, use of a or an are employed to describe elements and components described herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the scope of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is obvious that it is meant otherwise.

[0044] Certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described herein and are illustrated in the accompanying figures. The embodiments described are only for purposes of illustrating the present invention and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention, and certain modifications, combinations and improvements of the described embodiments, will occur to those skilled in the art and all such alternate embodiments, combinations, modifications, improvements are within the scope of the present invention.

Definitions

[0045] Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, an exemplary organic memristor 10 comprises an ionomer layer 20, comprising an ionomer 24 imbibed into the pores of a porous reinforcement layer 40, such as a porous fluoropolymer, including but not limited to expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, as shown in FIG. 3. A layer of ionomer without 26, 26 may extend along the surface of the ionomer layer 20 without the reinforcement layer, referred to as a butter-coat layer. Note that a composite ionomer lay 21 may have substantially no butter-coat layer, such as less than 0.5 micron thick, or may have a very thin butter-coat layer, such as less than 5 microns, or less than 2 microns. An anode electrode 50 is on an anode side 51 and a cathode electrode 60 is on the cathode side of the organic memristor. An electrical circuit 90 is coupled across the anode and cathode and a power source 92 is coupled with the electrical circuit to provide a voltage to the anode or cathode. The thickness of the organic memristor 25 may be less than 100 microns, such as about 50 microns or less, 25 microns or less, 10 microns or less and even 5 microns or less. There are benefits to the ionomer layer being thin, faster response times as it takes less time for protons 28 to move across the ionomer layer. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of discrete electrodes may be configured on the anode or cathode side. The discrete electrodes may be dots of plated electrode material that are not connected to each other.

[0046] As shown in FIG. 3, an exemplary reinforcement layer 40 is an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene 41, having nodes 42 interconnected by fibrils 44 and a plurality of pores 46. The pores of the ePTFE may be substantially filled with ionomer to produce an ionomer layer. Note that

[0047] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope of the invention. Specific embodiments, features and elements described herein may be modified, and/or combined in any suitable manner. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications, combinations and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.