Continuous-flow Mass Production of Silicon Nanowires via Substrate-Enhanced Metal-Catalyzed Electroless Etching of Silicon with Dissolved Oxygen as an Oxidant

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are attracting growing interest due to their unique properties and promising applications in photovoltaic devices, thermoelectric devices, lithium-ion batteries and biotechnology. Low-cost mass production of SiNWs is essential for SiNWs-based nanotechnology commercializatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2014-01, Vol.4 (1), p.3667-3667, Article 3667
Main Authors: Hu, Ya, Peng, Kui-Qing, Liu, Lin, Qiao, Zhen, Huang, Xing, Wu, Xiao-Ling, Meng, Xiang-Min, Lee, Shuit-Tong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
147/135
147/143
639/301/357/551
639/925/357/1016
Biotechnology
Dissolved oxygen
Etching
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lithium
multidisciplinary
Nanotechnology
Nanowires
Oxidizing agents
Photovoltaics
Science
Silicon
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Summary:Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are attracting growing interest due to their unique properties and promising applications in photovoltaic devices, thermoelectric devices, lithium-ion batteries and biotechnology. Low-cost mass production of SiNWs is essential for SiNWs-based nanotechnology commercialization. However, economic, controlled large-scale production of SiNWs remains challenging and rarely attainable. Here, we demonstrate a facile strategy capable of low-cost, continuous-flow mass production of SiNWs on an industrial scale. The strategy relies on substrate-enhanced metal-catalyzed electroless etching (MCEE) of silicon using dissolved oxygen in aqueous hydrofluoric acid (HF) solution as an oxidant. The distinct advantages of this novel MCEE approach, such as simplicity, scalability and flexibility, make it an attractive alternative to conventional MCEE methods.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep03667