Original title: High-Throughput Computational Discovery of Inverted Resistive Switching in Two-Dimensional Materials
Sanchali Mitra, Arnab Kabiraj, Benjamin W. J. Chen, Han Zhang +7 · September 2026
Computer memory chips can use atomristorsDevices that use thin layers of materials to switch electrical resistance for memory and computing., which are tiny devices made of single-layer sheets of materials that switch electrical resistance to store data. Most designs rely on only a couple of known materials, limiting their flexibility. To fix this, researchers built a computer screening system to test about 2,900 flat, single-layer materials. They looked for stable candidates where missing atoms, called vacancies, allow metal atoms to slip in and trigger switching. They identified 17 thermally stable materials that fall into two different operating styles. In Class 1 materials like GaS, gold filling an empty spot creates conducting paths, flipping the sheet from high to low resistance. In Class 2 materials like BiOCl, the sheet naturally starts with low resistance; adding gold traps loose electrons, flipping it to high resistance instead.
You turn a faucet to control water flow. Usually, turning it increases flow, but imagine a faucet that is already fully open. When you try to turn it further, it shuts off instead. In this paper, some materials naturally conduct electricity well, and adding gold atoms makes them resist current, which is the reverse of what is usual in such devices.
This discovery broadens the set of materials for building next-gen memory and brain-inspired computers, giving engineers more design choices for energy-efficient chips. It introduces a new type of resistance switching that could enable more versatile and multifunctional devices.
This is a computational study, so the identified materials have not been experimentally fabricated or tested in physical devices. The framework only screens exfoliable monolayers, not all possible 2D materials, and focuses on vacancy-mediated switching with gold adsorption.
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High-Throughput Computational Discovery of Inverted Resistive Switching in Two-Dimensional Materials — Sanchali Mitra, Arnab Kabiraj, Benjamin W. J. Chen et al.
Abstract licence: CC0
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper. This is a preprint, so it hasn't necessarily been peer reviewed.