Photoluminescence Enhancement of Adsorbed Species on Si Nanoparticles

We have fabricated Si nanoparticles from Si swarf using the beads milling method. The mode diameter of produced Si nanoparticles was between 4.8 and 5.2 nm. Si nanoparticles in hexane show photoluminescence (PL) spectra with peaks at 2.56, 2.73, 2.91, and 3.09 eV. The peaked PL spectra are attributed to the vibronic structure of adsorbed dimethylanthracene (DMA) impurity in hexane. The PL intensity of hexane with DMA increases by ~3000 times by adsorption on Si nanoparticles. The PL enhancement results from an increase in absorption probability of incident light by DMA caused by adsorption on the surface of Si nanoparticles.