Work Function Measurement for Ag-TCNQ (TCNQ = Tetracyanoquinodimethane) Nanowires

The Ag-TCNQ (TCNQ = tetracyanoquinodimethane) nanowires synthesized by a vapor transport reaction exhibit promising field emission properties. Their effective work function at high applied electric field was estimated to be about 1.70 eV according to the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) theory. In this work, we directly measured the intrinsic work function of Ag-TCNQ nanowires via the ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). According to the threshold binding energy, the work function is obtained to be 5.45 eV, which shows a large discrepancy with the preivous estimation based on F-N theory. The reductive effecitive work function during the field emission is mainly attributed to the morphology-induced enhancement of the nanowire array.