A facile morphologic modification strategy enabling robust resistive switching and electrochemical behavior of MnO2

Shortage of energy and computing power puts forward requirements for developing multifunctional devices. Inherent defects greatly limit the development of transition metal oxides as promising candidate for energy storage and memory applications. We propose a facile strategy to modify MnO 2 via controlling the doping amount of Co, effectively regulating the structural, magnetic and electrical properties. The 15.78 %Co-MnO 2 is nano-flower-like in δ phase with a specific surface area of 123.86  m 2  g −1 and rich oxygen vacancies. Its corresponding memristors exhibit stable and repeatable, sweep speed-dependent and voltage magnitude-dependent volatile bidirectional threshold switching behavior with high switching ratio of 10 4 over 1100 cycles, which is attributed to the formation and rupture of conductive filaments formed by a large number of oxygen vacancies and a small number of Co ions under the electric field. By controlling the applied voltage and compliance current, multilevel resistance states are shown. Besides, 15.78 %Co-MnO 2 also exhibits excellent zinc storage performance, due to its large specific surface area, nano-sized structure and abundant oxygen vacancies. This work lays a foundation for developing high-performance and low-dimensional memristor devices and capacitors, and paves a way for low-power multifunctional devices.