Size and Fluorescence characterization of Silicon Nanoparticles for Sensing Applications.

We characterize the size distribution and fluorescence properties of Silicon nanoparticles prepared by Metal Assisted Catalytic Etching (MACE) for use in bio-sensing applications. Silicon is an ideal candidate due to the photo-stability inherent to semiconductor photoluminescence (PL) in comparison to organic fluorophores, and low toxicity relative to CdSe quantum dots. Importantly, Silicon nanostructures prepared via MACE have photoluminescence spectra in the visible, which makes them compatible with standard biological microscopy and imaging systems. Nanoparticles were characterized using Atomic Force and Scanning Electron Microscopy (AFM and SEM respectively) to examine height and width distributions. The effect of solvents on the PL spectra of particles was also investigated as a first step toward engineering their properties for bio-sensing applications.