Influence of Terminal Electron Acceptors on Anthracene‐Based D‐π‐A Systems for Enhanced Resistive WORM Memory Performance

This study explores the application of small molecule‐based anthracene systems in resistive memory devices. We have designed and synthesized a series of five anthracene functionalized Donor‐π‐Acceptor (D‐π‐A) compounds for non‐volatile memory device applications employing various acceptor units such as fluorophenyl, trifluoromethylphenyl, formylphenyl, nitrophenyl and pyridinyl units. The photophysical studies revealed efficient intramolecular charge transfer within the compounds, and the electrochemical analysis confirmed a favorable band gap in the range of 2.65–2.79 eV. The thin‐film morphologies displayed excellent surface coverage and self‐assembly, facilitating enhanced charge transfer. Moreover, the single‐crystal analyses further confirmed their crystalline nature and the presence of efficient charge carrier pathways. All the synthesized compounds exhibited a binary write‐once read‐many times (WORM) memory behaviour. Among them, the compound with a nitrophenyl substituent achieved the highest ON/OFF current ratio of 10⁴, while the compound containing a fluorophenyl substituent exhibited the lowest threshold voltage of 1.87 V. Furthermore, the computational studies helped to substantiate a charge transfer and charge trapping mechanism in the fabricated devices. These findings highlight the potential of the synthesized compounds as promising candidates for high‐density data storage applications.