Producing oxide free silicon nanocrystals – A novel & benign approach

Abstract

A novel method of producing silicon nanocrystals (Si-NCs) having an indispensable oxide free surface is described. Construction of a cost-effective, robust & safe chemical laboratory setup is presented for the wet chemical etching of silicon oxide shell from Si-NCs using hydrofluoric acid (HF) solution followed by separation over a membrane filter by means of pressure filtration. Quantity of Si-NCs can range from milligrams to kilograms for processing at commercial scale.