Negative differential resistance and threshold-switching in conical nanopores with KF solutions

Abstract

Negative differential resistance (NDR) phenomena are under-explored in nanostructures operating in the liquid state. We characterize experimentally the NDR and threshold switching phenomena observed when conical nanopores are immersed in two identical KF solutions at low concentration. Sharp current drops in the nA range are obtained for applied voltages exceeding thresholds close to 1 V and a wide frequency window, which suggests that the threshold switching can be used to amplify small electrical perturbations because a small change in voltage typically results in a large change in current. While we have not given a detailed physical mechanism here, a phenomenological model is also included.