SR-PES and STM observation of metastable chemisorption state of oxygen on Si(1 1 0)-16 × 2 surface

Initial adsorption of oxygen molecules on the Si(1 1 0)-16 × 2 surface and subsequent modification of the bonding states induced by mild (300 °C) annealing have been studied by synchrotron-radiation photoemission spectroscopy and scanning-tunneling microscopy. It has been shown that upon annealing, the intensity and the energy positions of the Si 2p suboxide components shift towards the values characteristic for the thermal oxide. This indicates the presence of a metastable chemisorption state of oxygen on the Si(1 1 0)-16 × 2 surface.     

New optical features to enhance solar cell performance based on porous silicon surfaces

Electrochemical etching is used to fabricate porous silicon (PS) surfaces for both sides of the Si wafer. The effect of PS on performance of Si solar cells is investigated and the reflected mirrors are manipulated to enhance solar cell efficiency. The process is promising for solar cell manufacturing due to its simplicity, lower cost and suitability for mass production. The PS surface has discrete pores and short-branched pores on the polished wafer side. In contrast, the etched backside of the wafer has smaller pore size, with random pores. PS formed on both sides has lower reflectivity value compared with results in other works. Solar cell efficiency is increased to 15.4% with PS formed on both sides compared with the unetched sample and other results. Using empirical models, the optical properties of the refractive index and the optical dielectric constant are investigated. The porous surface texturing properties could enhance and increase the conversion efficiency of porous Si solar cells. The obtained results are in agreement with experimental and other data.     

提高多孔硅传感特性的一种新方法(英文)

研究了多孔硅(PS)吸附有机溶剂分子后对多孔硅荧光谱的淬灭效应。结果表明:淬灭多孔硅发光的有机溶剂分子是极性分子,有机溶剂分子的极性不同对多孔硅发光的淬灭程度也不同,且有些有机溶剂分子吸附氧化多孔硅比吸附多孔硅引起的发光淬灭具有更好的可逆性和选择性;用含有胺基的正丁胺(CH3CH2CH2CH2-NH2)作碳源,用射频辉光放电等离子系统在多孔硅表面沉积c n膜对多孔硅进行钝化处理后发现:其电致发光强度明显增强,发光峰位兰移,且在大气中存放60天后,其电致发光谱强度基本不衰减,峰位不再移动。经钝化处理的器件较未经处理的器件具有小的串联电阻Rs和低的驱动电压。这为提高多孔硅的传感特性提供了一种新方法。     

The effects of carbon nanotube addition and oxyfluorination on the glucose-sensing capabilities of glucose oxidase-coated carbon fiber electrodes

Glucose-sensing electrodes were constructed from carbon fibers by electrospinning and heat treatment. By controlling the pore size, the specific surface area and pore volume of the electrospun carbon fibers were increased for efficient immobilization of the glucose oxidase. Carbon nanotubes were embedded as an electrically conductive additive to improve the electrical property of the porous carbon fibers. In addition, the surface of the porous carbon fibers was modified with hydrophilic functional groups by direct oxyfluorination to increase the affinity between the hydrophobic carbon surface and the hydrophilic glucose oxidase molecules. The porosity of the carbon fibers was improved significantly with approximately 28- and 35-fold increases in the specific surface area and pore volume, respectively. The number of chemical bonds between carbon and oxygen were increased with higher oxygen content during oxyfluorination based on the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results. Glucose sensing was carried out by current voltagram and amperometric methods. A high-performance glucose sensor was obtained with high sensitivity and rapid response time as a result of carbon nanotube addition, physical activation and surface modification. The mechanism of the highly sensitive prepared glucose sensor was modeled by an enzyme kinetics study using the Michaelis-Menten equation.     

The interaction of <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis></Subscript> centers with oxygen molecules in porous silicon powders

The special features of the interaction of silicon dangling bonds on the surface of porous silicon with oxygen molecules were studied by EPR spectroscopy. The effectiveness of magnetic dipole-dipole interaction between these defects and oxygen molecules decreased as the size of sample granules diminished, because the concentration of defects then increased and, as a consequence, the contribution of their mutual dipole-dipole relaxation grew.     

Effect of surface modification by thermally oxidization and HF etching on UV photoluminescence emission of porous silicon

Photoluminescence of porous silicon (PS) is instable due perhaps to the nanostructure modification in air. The controllable structure modification processes on the as-prepared PS were conducted by thermal oxidization and/or HF etching. The PL spectra taken from thermally oxidized PS showed a stable photoluminescence emission of 355 nm. The photoluminescence emission taken from both of PS and oxidized porous silicon (OPS) samples etched with HF were instable, which can be reversibly recovered by the HF etching procedure. The mechanism of UV photoluminescence is discussed and attributed to the transformation of luminescence centers from oxygen deficient defects to the oxygen excess defects in the thermal oxidized PS sample and surface absorbed silanol groups on PS samples during the chemical etched procedure.     

Electron beam induced effects on gas adsorption utilizing auger electron spectroscopy: Co and O2 on Si: I. Adsorption studies

The effect of electron beam monitored gas adsorption on the clean Si surface is studied using Auger electron spectroscopy. It is shown that the beam affects the AES adsorption signal of CO and O₂ on Si by dissociating the adsorbed molecules on the surface and subsequently promoting diffusion of atomic oxygen into the bulk. A qualitative explanation of the adsorption data is presented and the initial sticking probability of O₂ on Si (111) surface is estimated to be S0 = 0.21.     

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterization of stain-etched luminescent porous silicon films

The surface and in-depth chemical nature of the photoluminescent stained Si layer obtained with a novel procedure based on HF/HNO₃ is presented. Oxide-free porous Si surfaces result from controlled preparation, storing and handling of samples, as revealed by parallel X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray-induced Auger electron spectroscopy measurements, coupled with Ar⁺ ion sputtering. The present findings support the model for the porous layer of oxidized samples of Si grains embedded in a silica gel matrix.     

Thermal annealing dependence of some optical properties of plasma-modified porous silicon

The photoluminescence and reflectance of porous silicon (PS) with and without hydrocarbon (CH_x) deposition fabricated by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) technique have been investigated. The PS samples were then, annealed at temperatures between 200 and 800 °C. The influence of thermal annealing on optical properties of the hydrocarbon layer/porous silicon/silicon structure (CH_x/PS/Si) was studied by means of photoluminescence (PL) measurements, reflectivity and ellipsometry spectroscopy. The composition of the PS surface was monitored by transmission Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Photoluminescence and reflectance measurements were carried out before and after annealing on the carbonized samples for wavelengths between 250 and 1200 nm. A reduction of the reflectance in the ultraviolet region of the spectrum was observed for the hydrocarbon deposited polished silicon samples but an opposite behaviour was found in the case of the CH_x/PS ones. From the comparison of the photoluminescence and reflectance spectra, it was found that most of the contribution of the PL in the porous silicon came from its upper interface. The PL and reflectance spectra were found to be opposite to one another. Increasing the annealing temperature reduced the PL intensity and an increase in the ultraviolet reflectance was observed. These observations, consistent with a surface dominated emission process, suggest that the surface state of the PS is the principal determinant of the PL spectrum and the PL efficiency.     

Investigation of the generation of singlet oxygen in ensembles of photoexcited silicon nanocrystals by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy

The generation of singlet oxygen is investigated and its concentration upon photoexcitation of silicon nanocrystals in porous silicon layers is determined using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The relaxation times of spin centers, i.e., silicon dangling bonds, in vacuum and in an oxygen atmosphere in the dark and under illumination of the samples are measured for the first time. It is revealed that the spin-lattice relaxation in porous silicon is retarded as compared to that in a single-crystal substrate. From analyzing experimental data, a microscopic model is proposed for interaction of oxygen molecules in the triplet state and spin centers at the surface of silicon nanocrystals. The results obtained have demonstrated that porous silicon holds promise for the use as a photosensitizer of molecular oxygen in biomedical applications.