Surface Modified Silicon Nanoparticles for Printable Optoelectronics

Silicon has been a material of great scientific and commercial interest for decades because of its high availability, cost effectiveness, biocompatibility, and compatibility with the well-established silicon-microelectronics technology. Size reduction of silicon into the nano regime generates novel optical properties and therefore opens the way to new optoelectronic devices. During the course of this research, it is discovered that modification of silicon nanoparticles (Si-NPs) surface can drastically improve their optical property and electrical conductivity. Additionally, these properties can be tuned by changing the surface ligands on silicon surface. The Si-NPs with modified surface form a very stable dispersion in a variety of solvents, which were later used to print structure on a substrate. Therefore, this research work provides a ready path for the production of highly stable Si-NPs ink with tunable optical and electrical properties, and opens new avenues to the application of silicon based low cost printable optoelectronics.