Synthesis, characterization and memory properties of novel organosoluble polyimides

Two novel series of aromatic polyimides were prepared from 2,2′‐bis(4‐amino‐3‐trifluoromethylthylphenoxy) biphenyl, 2,2′‐bis(4‐amino‐3‐methoxyphenoxy)biphenyl with 3,3′,4,4′‐benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA), 3,3′,4,4′‐diphenylsulfonetetracarboxylic dianhydride (DSDA) via a one‐step procedure. The resulting polymers were fully characterized, and they exhibited excellent organosolubility. These polyimides are thermally stable with 5% weight loss over 430°C, and glass transition temperatures of the polyimides were found to be 225–262°C. Resistive switching devices with the configuration of Al/polymer/indium‐tin oxide were constructed from these polyimides by using conventional solution coating process. Devices with all polyimides exhibited nonvolatile and rewritable flash type memory characteristics with turn‐on voltage at −1.1 to −2.8 V. The ON/OFF current ratio of these devices was larger than 10 4 , and the retention times can be as long as 10 4  s. The theoretical simulation based on the density functional theory suggested that greater distinct charge separation between the ground and charge transfer states led to a highly stable memory behavior. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.