High-yield preparation of blue-emitting colloidal Si nanocrystals by selective laser ablation of porous silicon in liquid.

We demonstrate the higher-yield (one order of magnitude) preparation of blue-emitting colloidal Si nanocrystals with a diameter range of 1-3 nm by selective laser ablation of porous Si powder in an organic solution, compared with the ablation of bulk Si powder. This increase in yield is the result of the lower thermal conductivity and the larger surface area of porous Si. The prepared colloidal Si nanocrystal exhibits size-dependent, higher-lying bandgap energies and large radiative decay rates as a result of the quantum confinement effect. Reversible luminescence color change from blue to yellow and vice versa in the colloidal Si nanocrystal film is also observed, and this is attributed to the non-radiative inter-crystal energy transfer.