A novel one-step synthesis of bright luminescent silicon nanocrystals capped with hydrophobic surface

Visible photoluminescent silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) capped with hydrophobic surface are synthesized via a novel and one-step bottom-up strategy by utilizing trialkoxysilane as silicon source. Ascorbate sodium as reducing agent facilitates the hydrothermal-assisted hydrolysis and condensation of trialkoxysilane molecule to generate a SiSi rich core and promotes the formation of Si NCs. The synthesized hydrophobic Si NCs give an average size of 3.4 nm and exhibit visible photoluminescence with a maximum emission wavelength around 450 nm accompanying a high absolute quantum yield of 17% which could be attributed to the enhanced radiative recombination by present efficient hydrophobic surface capping on Si NCs.