Chemical reaction between Ag nanoparticles and TCNQ microparticles in aqueous solution.

The chemical reaction between Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and 7,7',8,8'- tetracycanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) microparticles (MPs) in aqueous solution for the formation of Ag-NP-decorated Ag-TCNQ nanowires is reported. Based on the results obtained by UV-vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), it is proposed that the reaction between Ag NPs and TCNQ MPs includes three stages, namely, aggregation of NPs and MPs, diffusion and reaction between NPs and MPs, and formation of Ag-TCNQ nanowires. The as-synthesized semiconducting Ag-TCNQ nanowires show good performance in nonvolatile memory devices with multiple write-read-erase-read (WRER) cycles in air.