Silicon nanocrytallines composite sol-gel rod for optical applications

Nanocrystallines silicon (NCs Si) powders of heterogeneous sizes were uniformly dispersed in some solvents. Different quantity of NCs Si powder (0.00150/0.0012/0.0070) g was taken in the 10 ml of solvents to identify the effect of photoluminescence property. The NCs Si solution was directly incorporated in sol-gel matrix and developed nanocomposite rods. Light emitting from NCs Si solutions and nanocomposite rods were detected by exposing UV light. Optical properties of the NCs Si solution and nanocomposite rod were systematically studied using different characterization techniques. The effect on the properties of NCs Si in the environment of sol-gel matrix was studied. The significant change in absorption and emission property of NCs Si solution is observed when embedded in sol-gel matrix. The predicted band gap 2.8 eV of NCs Si in solution was changed to 3.63 eV when it is included in solid matrix. Crystalline structures of different sizes of NCs Si are identified by XRD and TEM. Well presence and distribution of NCs Si in the sol-gel surface were revealed by SEM images and EDX spectra. Spontaneous emissions (SE) of NCs Si solution and nanocomposite sol-gel rods were tested using third harmonic 355 nm laser source of a pico second tunable laser system. The enhanced SE signal from the nanocomposite solid rod is quite significant, which indicates that SE signal may enable to increase if highly packed NCs Si colloidal solution employ in sol-gel rod. The fabrication of light emitting composite solid rod may use as a solid state active medium for the ASE testing in the future work.

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