In situ inclusion of Au nanoparticles in porous silicon structure

The aim of this work was to study the structural modification in the porous silicon layer (PSL), when they are obtained from electrodeposition using a metal salt of Au (HAuCl 4 ) in the electrolyte. The deposition of Au nanoparticles and the formation of the PSL were performed simultaneously. The structural and optical properties of the gold/porous-Si were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), photoluminescence (PL) and Raman scattering. Through the methodology implemented, it was obtained gold/porous-Si nanocomposites. The size of the gold nanoparticles was above 15 nm, and the pore size was 18 nm. The PL intensity showed an increase with the incorporation of gold nanoparticles due to the enhancement of a surface plasmon effect. The size of Si nanocrystals in the PSL structure was estimated through PL and Raman measures and it was ~3 nm.