Synthesis and ink-jet printing of highly luminescing silicon nanoparticles for printable electronics.

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.