Design and Characterization of Nickel–DNA Memristors with Exceptional Dynamic Thermoelectric Response

The Seebeck effect refers to the ability of the material to convert thermal gradient into usable electrical energy. It will be highly desirable to develop a self-powered thermoelectric component for advance computing. DNA can be precisely engineered into nanowires of tunable length and sequence, provides a versatile platform for nanoscale electronic and thermoelectric applications. Moreover, Ni-DNA is a novel DNA complex which chelated the nickel ions in the base-pairs of DNA. Our previous investigations have demonstrated that Ni-DNA-based devices exhibit memristive and memcapacitive behaviors, attributed to reversible redox transitions of the coordinated Ni ions. These properties render Ni-DNA a promising candidate for memcomputing, particularly within computing-in-memory (CIM) paradigms. In this study, we report the fabrication, characterization and analysis of a Ni-DNA thermoelectric device operated under a controlled thermal gradient. The device exhibits an exceptionally high dynamic Seebeck coefficient, exceeding 10⁵ μV/K -about four orders of magnitude greater than conventional thermoelectric devices. Such devices hold strong potential for application in computing-in-memory (CIM) architectures which will be powered by Ni-DNA-based thermoelectric nanogenerators.