Acanthite–argentite transformation in nanocrystalline silver sulfide and the Ag$_2$S/Ag nanoheterostructure

Nanocrystalline acanthite-structured silver sulfide of the monoclinic structure and a Ag$_2$S/Ag nanoheterostructure are produced. The high-temperature X-ray diffraction technique is applied to the in situ study of the (acanthite $\alpha$-Ag$_2$S)–(argentite $\beta$-Ag$_2$S) phase transformation in nanocrystalline silver sulfide. The crystal structure of argentite is refined, and it is found that the content of vacant sites in the metal sublattice of argentite exceeds 92%. A model of a resistive switch, whose operation is based on the reversible acanthite–argentite transformation in a Ag$_2$S/Ag heterostructure, is considered.