Properties of magnetic nickel/porous-silicon composite powders

The magnetic and photoluminescence (PL) properties of nickel/porous-silicon (Ni/PSi) composite powders are investigated. Ni/PSi composite powders are prepared by stain etching of Si powder in a HF/HNO3 solution followed by electroless plating of Ni nanoparticles on the stain-etched PSi powder in a NiCl2 solution. The Ni/PSi powders exhibit hydrophillicity, superparamagnetism caused by the deposited Ni nanoparticles, and orange-red PL owing to the nanostructured PSi surface. The degree of magnetization decreases with increasing Ni plating time, indicating its dependence on the size of the Ni nanoparticles. The Ni/PSi composite powders also show a stronger magnetization as compared to that of the Ni-particle-plated Si powder. The stronger magnetization results from the larger surface area of PSi. The PL intensity, peak wavelength, and lifetime of Ni/PSi are strongly dependent on the NiCl2 concentration. This dependence is due to the different thickness of the oxide overlayer on the PSi surface formed during the Ni plating process. The existence of the oxide overlayer also results in a small change in the PL intensity against excitation time.