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Silicon nanoparticles with UV range photoluminescence synthesized through cryomilling induced phase transformation and etching

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Abstract

We report silicon nanoparticles with a particle size distribution of ~ 80 nm (mode) through controlled impact mode cryomilling of semiconductor grade silicon wafers at a temperature of 200 K under argon atmosphere. The transmission microscopic characterization of these particles establishes a partial transformation of the crystalline silicon into an amorphous phase yielding a two-phase microstructure for each of the particles. A high-speed imaging technique is utilized to understand the effect of impact energy (and milling intensity) on the phase transformation during milling. In a further development, etching of the two-phase nanocomposites leads to the dissolution of the amorphous phase yielding free nanoparticle of ~ 2 nm size that exhibit UV range photoluminescence with potential for sensors and other optical applications.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by part under the US– India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy-Research (PACE-R) for the Solar Energy Research Institute for India and the United States (SERIIUS), funded jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy (Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Technology Program, under Subcontract DE-AC36-08GO28308 to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado) and the Government of India, through the Department of Science and Technology under Subcontract IUSSTF/JCERDC-SERIIUS/2012 dated 22nd Nov. 2012. The facilities provided by AFMM center and CeNSE at Indian Institute of Science are gratefully acknowledged. Authors thank Dr. Khusboo Pandey, Dr. SK Karthick, Mr. Sakthi Kumar for their help in performing high-speed imaging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India

    Hemaprabha Elangovan & Kamanio Chattopadhyay

  2. Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, 140306, India

    Sanchita Sengupta

  3. Materials Research Centre, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India

    Ravishankar Narayanan

  4. Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India

    Kamanio Chattopadhyay

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  1. Hemaprabha Elangovan
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Correspondence to Kamanio Chattopadhyay.

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Elangovan, H., Sengupta, S., Narayanan, R. et al. Silicon nanoparticles with UV range photoluminescence synthesized through cryomilling induced phase transformation and etching. J Mater Sci 56, 1515–1526 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05374-z

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