Journal
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
Volume 24, Issue 2, Pages 346-352Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/cm203085f
Keywords
silicon nanocrystals; photoluminescence; polydispersity; hydrofluoric acid etching
Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
- Alberta Science and Research Investment Program (ASRIP), Alberta Innovates: Technology Futures
- University of Alberta Department of Chemistry
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A detailed investigation of the photochemical etching of silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) in aqueous hydrofluoric acid (HF) mixtures is described. By increasing the HF concentration and lowering the pH upon addition of hydrochloric acid (Ha), oxide-embedded Si-NCs were rapidly etched, and photoluminescence (PL) from the resulting hydride-terminated Si-NCs tailored from the near-IR to the yellow/green spectral region by irradiating the reaction mixture at the desired PL wavelength. These results are consistent with a hole-driven etching pathway rather than the chemically induced oxidation/etch pathway commonly exploited for Si nanostructures. The relationship among NC size, polydispersity, and PL was investigated using small-angle X-ray scattering. We suggest the defect density of Si-NCs is a crucial parameter for effective size control via photochemical exciton-mediated HF etching. Improved HF etching methods are expected to enable Si-NC applications through the realization of narrow polydispersity and PL bandwidth.
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