Engineering Atomic-Scale Patterning and Resistive Switching in Two-Dimensional Crystals and Application in Image Processing.

The ultrathin thickness of two-dimensional layered materials affords the control of their properties through defects, surface modification, and electrostatic fields more efficiently compared with bulk architecture. In particular, patterning design, such as moiré superlattice patterns and spatially periodic dielectric structures, has been demonstrated to possess the ability to precisely control the local atomic and electronic environment at large scale, thus providing extra degrees of freedom to realize tailored material properties and device functionality. Here, we report the scalable atomic-scale patterning in superionic cuprous telluride by using the bonding difference at nonequivalent copper sites. Moreover, benefitting from the natural coupling of ordered and disordered sublattices, we realize controllable piezoelectricity-like multi-level switching and bipolar switching with the designed crystal structure and electrical contact, and demonstrate their application in image enhancement. This work extends the known classes of patternable crystals and atomic switching devices, and ushers in a frontier for image processing with memristors. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.