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Porous silicon (PSi) is widely used in biological experiments, owing to its biocompatibility and well-established fabrication methods that allow tailoring its surface. Nevertheless, there are some unresolved issues such as deciding whether the stabilization of PSi is necessary for its biological applications and evaluating the effects of PSi stabilization on the surface biofunctionalization with proteins. In this work we demonstrate that non-stabilized PSi is prone to detachment owing to the stress induced upon biomolecular adsorption. Biofunctionalized non-stabilized PSi loses the interference properties characteristic of a thin film, and groove-like structures resulting from a final layer collapse were observed by scanning electron microscopy. Likewise, direct PSi derivatization with 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (APTS) does not stabilize PSi against immunoglobulin biofunctionalization. To overcome this problem, we developed a simple chemical process of stabilizing PSi (CoxPSi) for biological applications, which has several advantages over thermal stabilization (ToxPSi). The process consists of chemical oxidation in H 2 O 2 , surface derivatization with APTS and a curing step at 120• C. This process offers integral homogeneous PSi morphology, hydrophilic surface termination (contact angle θ = 26• ) and highly efficient derivatized and biofunctionalized PSi surfaces (six times more efficient than ToxPSi). All these features are highly desirable for biological applications, such as biosensing, where our results can be used for the design and optimization of the biomolecular immobilization cascade on PSi surfaces.

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Nanocomposites formed by porous silicon (PS) and zinc oxide (ZnO) have potential for applications in optoelectronic devices. However, understanding the distribution of both materials in the nanocomposite, and especially the fine structure of the synthesized ZnO crystals, is key for future device fabrication. This study focuses on the advanced characterization of a range of PS-ZnO nanocomposites by using photon- and ion-based techniques, such as X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and elastic backscattering spectroscopy (EBS), respectively. PS substrates formed by the electrochemical etching of p(+)-type Si are used as host material for the sol-gel nucleation of ZnO nanoparticles. Different properties are induced by annealing in air at temperatures ranging from 200 °C to 800 °C. Results show that wurtzite ZnO nanoparticles form only at temperatures above 200 °C, coexisting with Si quantum dots (QDs) inside a PS matrix. Increasing the annealing temperature leads to structural and distribution changes that affect the electronic and local structure of the samples changing their luminescence. Temperatures around 800 °C activate the formation of a new zinc silicate phase and transform PS into an amorphous silicon oxide (SiOx, x≈ 2) matrix with a noticeably reduced presence of Si QDs. Thus, these changes affect dramatically the emission from these nanocomposites and their potential applications.