Electrically tunable resistance of a metal

Electric field-induced tuning of material properties is usually restricted to nonmetals such as semiconductors and piezoelectric ceramics. We show that variations of the electrical resistance of a metal (Pt) in the range of several percent can be reversibly induced at low charging voltages making use of a nanocrystallite-electrolyte composite. The charge-induced resistance variation is analyzed taking into account the modification of the charge carrier density and scattering rate by surface charging. The contribution arising from the charge-induced variation of the lattice constant is found to be small.