Search

Ratiometric near‐infrared (NIR) fluorescence holds great promise for important applications such as temperature sensing, food safety detection, and biological imaging owing to its self‐calibration and contactless measurements in the NIR region. For ratiometric NIR fluorescence, the suppression of optical reabsorption and signal interference is crucial. In this work, freestanding erbium (Er)‐hyperdoped silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) with UV absorption and NIR emission are synthesized via nonthermal plasma, effectively avoiding optical reabsorption. Er with the valence of +3 is found to be mainly located in the subsurface region of Er‐hyperdoped Si QDs, which emit NIR light at the wavelengths of 830 and 1540 nm. The distinct difference between the two NIR wavelengths (Δλ = 710 nm) well impedes signal interference in ratiometric NIR fluorescence. It is shown that Er‐hyperdoped Si QDs may be a powerful platform of ratiometric NIR fluorescence by exemplarily demonstrating their temperature‐sensing capability in a wide temperature range (297–477 K) with high relative sensitivity (3.05% K−1), high‐temperature resolution (<0.018 K), and high repeatability (>98%). The temperature sensing of Er‐hyperdoped Si QDs may be further employed to construct logic gates, enabling in‐sensor computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperdoping silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) to a concentration exceeding the solubility limit of a dopant may enable their novel applications. Here, the successful hyperdoping of Si NCs with boron (B) and phosphorus (P) is demonstrated, which are the most important dopants for Si. Despite the hyperdoping, the diamond structure of Si NCs is hardly modified. There are both electrically active B and P in hyperdoped Si NCs. It is proposed that the hyperdoping is made possible mainly by the kinetics in the nonthermal plasma synthesis of Si NCs. Collision between Si NCs and B or P atoms and the binding energy of B or P at the NC surface are critical to the understanding on the differences in the doping efficiency and dopant distribution between B and P. B-hyperdoping-induced tensile stress needs to be taken into account in the investigation on the doping and oxidation of Si NCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: 2D material‐based electronic devices like graphene–silicon photodetectors (Gr–Si PDs) have attracted much attention of researchers in the past few years. Due to the nature of Schottky junction, Gr–Si PDs have ultrafast response. However, responsivity of Gr–Si PDs is very low, which hinders their practical application. Low work function of Gr and poor absorbance of Si are mainly responsible for this problem. Here, a novel approach for coupling of Gr–Si PDs with 2D fractal platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs) is demonstrated to enhance the responsivity and speed up the response of Gr–Si PDs at the same time. 2D morphology of fractal Pt NPs helps to overcome the coffee‐ring effect. Fully covered fractal Pt NPs remarkably improve the absorption of Gr–Si PDs by plasmonic effect. Responsivity of Gr–Si PDs thus is remarkably enhanced to 26 A W−1. Meanwhile, work function of Gr is improved by the physical doping of high‐work‐function Pt NPs. Therefore, the Schottky barrier of Gr–Si junction is increased, resulting in faster response. Improvement in the built‐in electric field reduces the background noise of Gr–Si PDs as well. These results indicate toward a simple and novel approach for fabricating high and fast response Gr–Si PDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimizing the light-emitting efficiency of silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) has been recently intensified by the demand of the practical use of Si QDs in a variety of fields such as optoelectronics, photovoltaics, and bioimaging. It is imperative that an understanding of the optimum light-emitting efficiency of Si QDs should be obtained to guide the design of the synthesis and processing of Si QDs. Here an investigation is presented on the characteristics of the photoluminescence (PL) from hydrosilylated Si QDs in a rather broad size region (≈2-10 nm), which enables an effective mass approximation model to be developed, which can very well describe the dependence of the PL energy on the QD size for Si QDs in the whole quantum-confinement regime, and demonstrates that an optimum PL quantum yield (QY) appears at a specific QD size for Si QDs. The optimum PL QY results from the interplay between quantum-confinement effect and surface effect. The current work has important implications for the surface engineering of Si QDs. To optimize the light-emission efficiency of Si QDs, the surface of Si QDs must be engineered to minimize the formation of defects such as dangling bonds at the QD surface and build an energy barrier that can effectively prevent carriers in Si QDs from tunneling out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]