Synthesis of Wafer-Scale Monolayer Pyrenyl Graphdiyne on Ultrathin Hexagonal Boron Nitride for Multibit Optoelectronic Memory

Graphdiyne is a new two-dimensional carbon allotrope with many attractive properties and has been widely used in various applications. However, the synthesis of large-area, high-quality, and ultrathin (especially monolayer) graphdiyne and its analogues remains a challenge, hindering its application in optoelectronic devices. Here, a wafer-scale monolayer pyrenyl graphdiyne (Pyr-GDY) film is obtained on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) via a van der Waals epitaxial strategy, and top-floating-gated multibit nonvolatile optoelectronic memory based on Pyr-GDY/hBN/graphene is constructed, using Pyr-GDY as a photoresponsive top-floating gate. Benefiting from the excellent charge trapping capability and strong absorption of the graphdiyne film, as well as the top-floating-gated structure and the ultrathin hBN film used in the device, the optoelectronic memory exhibits high storage performance and robust reliability. A huge difference in the current between the programmed and erased states (>26 μA μm–1at Vds= 0.1 V) and a prolonged retention time (>105s) enable the device to achieve multibit storage, for which eight and nine distinct storage levels (3-bit) are obtained by applying periodic gate voltages and optical pulses in the programming and erasing processes, respectively. This work provides an important step toward realizing versatile graphdiyne-based optoelectronic devices in the future.