2020, Tokarska, Klaudia, Shi, Qitao, Otulakowski, Lukasz, Wrobel, Pawel, Ta, Huy Quang, Kurtyka, Przemyslaw, Kordyka, Aleksandra, Siwy, Mariola, Vasylieva, Margaryta, Forys, Aleksander, Trzebick, Barbara, Bachmatiuk, Alicja, Rümmeli, Mark H.

A facile procedure for the synthesis of ultra-fine silicon nanoparticles without the need for a Schlenk vacuum line is presented. The process consists of the production of a (HSiO1.5)n sol–gel precursor based on the polycondensation of low-cost trichlorosilane (HSiCl3), followed by its annealing and etching. The obtained materials were thoroughly characterized after each preparation step by electron microscopy, Fourier transform and Raman spectroscopy, X-ray dispersion spectroscopy, diffraction methods and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The data confirm the formation of ultra-fine silicon nanoparticles with controllable average diameters between 1 and 5 nm depending on the etching time.