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Effect of etching parameters on the electrochemical response of silicon nanowires

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Abstract

Silicon nanowires combine a high electrical conductivity with low thermal conductivity due to the small cross section offering a good template for sensing. Silicon p-type (100) substrate was used in this work to present a comparative study from a morphological point of view as well as for the electrical properties of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) etched by Ag-assisted chemical method in one-step and two-step process. The comparison between both techniques for SiNWs samples’ elaborated with Metal-Assisted Chemical Technique (MACE) was investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy images that clearly show the presence of nanowires and the existence of porous silicon structure especially by Transmission Electron Microscopy technique. Several particles on the SiNWs surface such as oxygen and hydrogen elements were identified by Fourier-Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy measurements. The results indicate that the MACE’s steps influence the nucleation and motility of Ag particles, which leads to a different length and density structure within the nanowires. These parameters influence the electrochemical properties of the surface that was studied using electrochemical measurements. Impedance analysis revealed that the charge transfer resistance decreases with the length of the SiNWs dissimilar to the capacitance based on the cyclic voltammetry analysis. In this paper, we studied the electrochemical parameters which indicate that two-step MACE procedure presents a resistance nearly the half of the value of SiNWs produced using one-step MACE technique; as for the capacitance, it increases by 28.5%. We can notice that SiNWs produced using two-step MACE show better results for biosensing application. For that reason, we decide to functionalize the two-step MACE SiNWs to prove the ease of the surface modification. Deposition of nickel nanoparticles was analysed manifesting a good amelioration of the resistance with a factor of 2.5.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the Nova Scotia Health Research(NSHRF) Establishment Grant for “Magnetic Nanoparticle Platform for Development of Would Healing Sensor” Project, the NSERC Discovery Grant for “Tunable Nanocomposites for Smart Materials and Technology Platform”, MITACS Career Connect, Clean Foundation, and CFI. Author FZ appreciate the technical assistance of Ms. Judy MacInnis of Chemistry Department of Cape Breton University, especially with TEM analysis. The authors appreciate also the participation of Dr.Muhammad Saqib of Fraunhofer-InstitutfürKeramischeTechnologien und Systeme IKTS for MEB analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tunis University - National High School of Engineering of Tunis, 5 Av Taha Hussein, 1008, Tunis, Tunisia

    Fatma Zaïbi

  2. Nanomaterials and Systems for Renewable Energy Laboratory, The Research and Technology Centre of Energy, Technopole De Borj-Cédria, BP 95, Hammam Lif, Borj-Cedria, 2050, Tunis, Tunisia

    Fatma Zaïbi, Ichrak Slama & Radhouane Chtourou

  3. Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, Cape Breton University, Sydney, NS, B1P 6L2, Canada

    Fatma Zaïbi & Martin Mkandawire

  4. Laboratory of Transmissible Diseases and Biologically Active Substances, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, LR99ES27, 5000, Monastir, Tunisia

    Ichrak Slama

  5. Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS, Maria-Reiche Street 2, 01109, Dresden, Germany

    Fatma Zaïbi, Natalia Beshchasna & Jörg Opitz

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  1. Fatma Zaïbi
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Correspondence to Fatma Zaïbi.

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Zaïbi, F., Slama, I., Beshchasna, N. et al. Effect of etching parameters on the electrochemical response of silicon nanowires. J Appl Electrochem 52, 273–284 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-021-01638-x

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