AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session PS+AS+NS+SS-ThM

Invited Paper PS+AS+NS+SS-ThM1
Nanoscale Interface Engineering of Silicon Nanocrystals by Non-equilibrium Microplasma

Thursday, October 31, 2013, 8:00 am, Room 102 B

Session: Plasma Synthesis of Nanostructures
Presenter: V. Svrcek, Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan
Correspondent: Click to Email
Silicon nanocrystals (Si-ncs) created vast interests and Si-ncs interfaces are at the basis of application in water splitting, for bio-imaging and may open up great opportunities for the development of most advanced technologies. For instance, in photovoltaic community enormous interests is mainly due to their enhanced multiple exciton characteristics. The fundamental aspects of exciton dissociation are highly important to improve the efficiency of solar cells and therefore the employment of Si-ncs in a range of applications requires careful investigation on the surface conditions, Indeed, the interplay of quantum confinement with surface effects reveals a complex scenario, which can strongly affect of Si-ncs properties and prediction of their corresponding behaviour. In this context, a variety of carefully surface-engineered Si-ncs are highly desirable both for understanding of Si-ncs photo-physics and for their successful integration in application devices. Surface surfactant free functionalization techniques that can assess the functionalities of the Si-ncs interface need to be developed so that efficient charge transport and excitons dissociation could be achieved. In this talk we firstly highlight a selection of theoretical efforts and experimental surface engineering approaches. Secondly we present our results on surfactant free surface engineering of Si-ncs, which have utilized novel microplasma–liquid interactions. The possibilities of surface engineering and tuning overall Si-ncs properties by two independent techniques will be pointed out. Particularly, we will show that the atmospheric pressure RF and DC microplasmas in liquid media offer a wide range of opportunities for Si-ncs surface engineering due to multiple mechanisms induced by the microplasma process and more efficient electron driven non-equilibrium liquid chemistry. The flexibility and results on superior capabilities of the microplasma-based surface engineering approach will be presented. Then, an influence of Si-ncs surface engineering on photovoltaic based devices and the possibilities of enhancement optical density and role of Si-ncs surface engineering on integration within nanotubes will be shown. Finally the potential for scaled-up to achieve large scale surface engineering as would be required for industrial applications will be discussed as well.