Preparation and functionalization of hydride terminated porous germanium

Porous germanium (PG) is prepared by a novel bipolar electrochemical etching (BEE) technique; scanning electron microscopy (SEM) clearly reveals formation of a porous layer up to a few microns thick that is Ge-H-x terminated as indicated by FTIR spectroscopy; the hydride terminated PG material is quite resistant to oxidation, even under thermal conditions, but can be induced to undergo hydrogermylation reactions with alkenes and alkynes.