One-step synthesis of lightly doped porous silicon nanowires in HF/AgNO3/H2O2 solution at room temperature

One-step synthesis of lightly doped porous silicon nanowire arrays was achieved by etching the silicon wafer in HF/AgNO3/H2O2 solution at room temperature. The lightly doped porous silicon nanowires (pNWs) have circular nanopores on the sidewall, which can emit strong green fluorescence. The surface morphologies of these nanowires could be controlled by simply adjusting the concentration of H2O2, which influences the distribution of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) along the nanowire axis. A mechanism based on Ag NPs-induced lateral etching of nanowires was proposed to explain the formation of pNWs. The controllable and widely applicable synthesis of pNWs will open their potential application to nanoscale photoluminescence devices.