Solution Synthesis of Luminescent Silicon Nanoparticles

Abstract

The quantum confinement effect, which generates by creating a semiconductor crystal on the order or smaller than the bulk exciton Bohr radius, has fueled tremendous interests in a range of optical and optoelectronic applications including photovoltaic devices, full-color displays, sensors, laser oscillation, light-emitting diodes, and biological fluorescence tags. In addition to superior stability against photobleaching compared to organic fluorescent dyes, size-tunable photoluminescence (PL) from the quantum dots (QDs) has spurred enormous growth in their fundamental research and development activities. In this review, silicon which is one of the environmentally friendly QDs is highlighted, and the recent development on its surface chemical functionalization is reviewed. For examples, the well-designed surfaces with organic monolayers creates the opportunity (i) to control the radiative recombination of photoexcited electrons between the ground electron and hole states in the subbands formed in nanostructures of silicon, and (ii) to give high affinity for biomolecular recognition. The industrial use of luminescent silicon provides the unsurpassed compatibility with current microelectronics, and a high chemical affinity for C, O, and N for covalent linkages, thereby producing a variety of its organic derivatives hybridized at the molecular level.