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This study proposes an innovative silver-nanoparticle-assisted electrochemical etching method for the fabrication of porous silicon Bragg reflectors with multi-wavelength reflection characteristics. By introducing silver nanoparticles at varying concentrations (0.1–10 mg/mL) into the conventional HF–ethanol electrolyte and applying periodically modulated current densities (40/100 mA/cm2), the transition from single-peak to multi-peak reflection spectra was successfully achieved. The results demonstrate that at a concentration of 10 mg/mL silver nanoparticles, up to four distinct reflection bands can be obtained. A systematic investigation was conducted on the influence of etching cycles (4–20 cycles) and silver nanoparticle concentration on the optical performance and microstructure. SEM analysis revealed well-defined periodic multilayer structures, while XPS analysis confirmed the presence of metallic silver on the porous silicon surface. This work provides a simple, controllable, and cost-effective approach to the development of multifunctional photonic devices, with promising applications in laser optics, solar cells, chemical sensing, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering.
Huang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.