Alkyl‐Functionalized Oxide‐Free Silicon Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Optical Properties

Due to the presence of trace amounts of toluene remaining from the synthesis, the optical absorption and emission properties of the alkyl-terminated silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) at wavelengths <270 nm reflect the presence of both toluene and Si NPs. Unambiguous spectroscopic data can be obtained at wavelengths ≥280 nm, as at these wavelengths remaining traces of toluene do not display any absorption.1 The extinction coefficient ε of these Si NPs at 280 nm is 9.4 × 103 M−1 cm−1.2 Unfortunately, the vibrational progressions (Figure 5 of the original paper, bottom graph) and scattering data mentioned on p. 1839 are largely determined by this presence of toluene. The second and third columns of Table 1 should be corrected as shown below. (The quantum yields and lifetimes, columns 4–6, remain unchanged.) Figure 5 of the original paper should be replaced by Figure 5 (right), which shows the toluene-free optical absorption and fluorescence of these nanoparticles. Absorption (black line) and emission (red line; λ = 280 nm) spectra of SiC16H33 (5 × 10−5 M) in hexane. The authors would like to thank Loes Ruizendaal (Wageningen University), Ramunas Augulis, and Prof. Paul van Loosdrecht (University of Groningen) for bringing this to our attention, and Prof. M. A. Lopez-Quintela, Dr. X. Duan (University of Santiago de Compostela), and Javier Calvo-Fuentes (NANOGAP, A Coruña) for independently discovering and verifying this in detail.