Organo‐Functionalization of Silicon Nanocrystals Synthesized by Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

Octadecyl-terminated silicon nanocrystals (ODE-Si NCs) are obtained via a surface-initiated thermal hydrosilylation reaction on hydride-terminated Si NCs (H Si NCs). Pristine Si NCs were synthesized at the gram scale by using inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD). The H Si NCs were produced through a chemical etching process with hydrofluoric acid (HF), ethanol (EtOH), and distilled water (d-H 2 O). The results obtained from X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) indicate that the synthesized Si NCs obtained via ICP-CVD have diamond cubic-structured silicon with a grain size of 10 nm and a densely packed Si NC array consisting of individual NCs. Organo-functionalized Si NCs, i.e., ODE-Si NCs, are well soluble in organic solvent whereas pristine Si NCs synthesized through ICP-CVD are not. The surface chemistry of the ODE-Si NCs was confirmed via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-NMR), and field emission transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM). Thereby, these newly synthesized and scalable organo-functionalized Si NCs are applicable as raw materials for practical use in devices by tuning the surface chemistry with various capping molecules.