Slow conductivity relaxation and simple aging in nanostructured mesoporous silicon at room temperature

Experimental observations of peculiar time-dependent charge transport phenomena, such as slow conductivity relaxation, nonergodicity, and simple aging, are reported here for mesoporous silicon at room temperature. These effects are discussed on the basis of the strong disorder in the nanocrystalline silicon network constituting the material. Taking into account various independent results reported in literature, the authors suggest that the observed behavior may reflect nonequilibrium glassy dynamics due to Anderson localization and Coulomb interactions.