CuOx nanowires were synthesized by a low-cost and large-scale electrochemical process with AAO membranes at room temperature and its resistive switching has been demonstrated. The switching characteristic exhibits forming-free and low electric-field switching operation due to coexistence of significant amount of defects and Cu nanocrystals in the partially oxidized nanowires. The detailed resistive switching characteristics of CuOx nanowire systems have been investigated and possible switching mechanisms are systematically proposed based on the microstructural and chemical analysis via transmission electron microscopy.

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Memristors have recently attracted a significant interest due to their potential application in nanoscale logic and memory devices. Memristors are two-terminal memory resistors that retain internal resistance state according to the history of applied voltage and current. The memristive behavior was obtained in metal/oxide/metal ultra-thin-film structure. Devices based on transition metal oxide have been reported in the previous works. However, none of researches demonstrate the simple synthesis of memristors from metallic nanowires by taking advantage of Joule Heating. In our research, direct current-induced oxidation of Cu nanowires by high current density in atmospheric air at room temperature was investigated. Subsequently, reversible switching up to 100 cycles with large ON/OFF ratio (> 103) and low threshold voltages (>0.5V) was demonstrated. From TEM analysis of the manipulated nanowire devices, core-shell (Cu2O/Cu) nanowire structure was observed which provided an evidence of current-induced oxidation.