Angle resolved XPS for selective characterization of internal and external surface of porous silicon

Selective functionalization of the external/internal pore surface of porous silicon is of interest for the numerous potential applications of this material, in particular in pharmacology. With the aim of obtaining porous silicon platforms compatible with the aqueous environment and providing hydrophobic pores to load poorly water soluble molecules, we set-up a three step functionalization procedure consisting in two hydrosilylation reactions separated by the selective etching of the external surface. This procedure was applied both, to porous layers and porous microparticles. The characterization of the functionalized material by conventional techniques such as contact angle and FTIR showed a change of the properties of porous structures in line with the expected surface modifications. However, these techniques do not permit to clearly distinguish between internally and externally grafted functional groups. For this reason, an innovative procedure based on angle-resolved XPS was set-up and applied to differently functionalized pSi layers. By this technique, we obtained indications of prevalent grafting of hydrophilic moieties on the external surface and hydrophobic ones inside the pores.