Silicon Nanostructures for Molecular Sensing: A Review

Abstract

This review presents a comprehensive synopsis of the recent developments and achievements in the research of nanosensors composed of plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) and silicon nanostructures (NSs) for effective trace-level molecular detection. This review focuses intensively on the methodologies for the preparation and enforcement of a variety of SiNSs including (a) metal nanoparticles decorated silicon nanowires (NWs), (b) metal nanodendrites (NDs) on Si substrate, (c) plasmonic NPs decorated nanocrystalline porous silicon (pSi), and (d) silicon composed hybrid nanostructures with favorable parameters of importance in sensing. Furthermore, their potency in wide molecular sensing applications, especially chemical, biological, and explosive molecules based on surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) phenomenon is discussed in detail. Various demonstrations and categorizations are provided on the topic of Si-based NSs for a clear understanding to diverse readers. A roadmap is also provided at the end for achieving superior sensing materials or devices in the future.

Wafer-scale silver nanodendrites with homogeneous distribution of gold nanoparticles for biomolecules detection

“…Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy/scattering (SERS) is one of the most fascinating analytic techniques for rapid, in-field, single-shot detection of analyte molecules finding impending applications in biomedicine, clinical, environmental detection, food safety, and so forth. ( Vendamani et al, 2022 ; Verma and Soni, 2022 ; Tzeng and Lin, 2020 ; Zhang et al., 2013 ; Powell et al., 2017 ; Ouyang et al., 2018 ; Xu et al., 2018 ; Zhu et al., 2021 ). This technique has also been favored in food inspection via examining antibiotic deposits in animal products ( Lirio et al., 2016 ; Li et al., 2015 ).…”

Beyond the fluorescence labelling of novel nitrogen-doped silicon quantum dots: the reducing agent and stabilizer for preparing hybrid nanoparticles and antibacterial applications

“…32 The fluorescence emissions of undoped SiQDs and other types of SiQDs from the literature were commonly blue, thus they may be susceptible to interference from the fluorescence of biological samples when used as fluorescence markers. [1][2][3][4] Thus, the green fluorescence of the prepared N-SiQDs would be beneficial to the fluorescence imaging of the biological samples. 33 Additionally, the fluorescence intensity of the N-SiQDs was continuously monitored under UV irradiation for 1 h (Fig.…”

“…As a class of emerging photoluminescent quantum dots, silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) were prominent for the large Stokes shift, adjustable fluorescent properties, and satisfactory chemical and photo stability. 1,2 Compared to bulk silica, SiQDs exhibit excellent photoluminescence as the size of the nanoparticles is reduced to less than the exciton Bohr radius (B4.2 nm) of silicon. [1][2][3][4] At this situation, the surface-related optical properties of the SiQDs significantly improve due to the increase of atom ratio on the surface and the enhancement of various quantum effects, such as the quantum size effect and quantum interference effect.…”

“…1,2 Compared to bulk silica, SiQDs exhibit excellent photoluminescence as the size of the nanoparticles is reduced to less than the exciton Bohr radius (B4.2 nm) of silicon. [1][2][3][4] At this situation, the surface-related optical properties of the SiQDs significantly improve due to the increase of atom ratio on the surface and the enhancement of various quantum effects, such as the quantum size effect and quantum interference effect. More importantly, different from the semiconductor quantum dots or carbon dots, SiQDs possess excellent biocompatibility, and can be metabolized by the kidney into proto silicate and excreted in urine, 5,6 thus they are nontoxic.…”

Thermal Properties of Porous Silicon Nanomaterials

“…In addition, it was shown that porous silicon could be used in the biodetection of miRNA on the basis of the surface plasmon resonance and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) [ 4 ].…”