Silicon Nanocrystals
At the nanoscale, many materials exhibit novel qualities that have never surfaced, in the bulk. For example, nanocrystals of silicon will emit photoluminescence when excited with UV light. These glowing nanoparticles can be effective emitters, can be tuned in size to emit different colors of light, and have great potential for use in lighting devices and in biomedical applications, especially since silicon is relatively nontoxic, compared to other luminescent materials. I will discuss how silicon nanocrystals can be made in a plasma reactor, how we study their structure and properties, and what we can change about the particles to enable their use in a variety of applications.