title: Synthesis and ink-jet printing of highly luminescing silicon nanoparticles for printable electronics.
abstract: The formation of stable colloidal dispersions of silicon nanoparticles (Si-NPs) is essential for the manufacturing of silicon based electronic and optoelectronic devices using cost-effective printing technologies. However, the development of Si-NPs based printable electronics has so far been hampered by the lack of long-term stability, low production rate and poor optical properties of Si-NPs ink. In this paper, we synthesized Si-NPs in a gas phase microwave plasma reactor with very high production rate, which were later treated to form a stable colloidal dispersion. These particles can be readily dispersed in a variety of organic solvents and the dispersion is stable for months. The particles show excellent optical properties (quantum yields of about 15%) and long-term photoluminescence (PL) stability. The stable ink containing functionalized Si-NPs was successfully used to print structures on glass substrates by ink-jet printing. The homogeneity and uniformity of large-area printed film was investigated using photoluminescence (PL) mapping.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Combustion and Gasdynamics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg 47057, Germany.
authors.forename: Anoop
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Ahmed S G
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Khalil
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Offer
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Winterer
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lorke
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wiggers