Silicon nanocrystals in liquid media: optical properties and surface stabilization by microplasma-induced non-equilibrium liquid chemistry

Davide Mariotti*, Vladimir Švrček, Jeremy W. J. Hamilton, Michael Schmidt, Michio Kondo

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

77 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Surface engineering of silicon nanocrystals directly in water or ethanol by atmospheric-pressure dc microplasma is reported. In both liquids, microplasma processing stabilizes the optoelectronic properties of silicon nanocrystals. The microplasma treatment induces non-equilibrium liquid chemistry that passivates the silicon nanocrystals surface with oxygen-/organic-based terminations. In particular, the microplasma treatment in ethanol drastically enhances the silicon nanocrystals photoluminescence intensity and causes a clear red-shift (≈80 nm) of the photoluminescence maximum. The photoluminescence properties are stable after several days of storage in either ethanol or water. The surface chemistry induced by the microplasma treatment is analyzed and discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)954-964
Number of pages11
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume22
Issue number5
Early online date19 Dec 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Mar 2012

Keywords

  • microplasma
  • photoluminescence
  • silicon quantum dots

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