Optical and morphological characterization of Si nanocrystals/silica composites prepared by sol–gel processing

Linear (visible photoluminescence) and non-linear (third-order susceptibility) optical properties have been measured for laser-synthesized crystalline Si nanoparticles. The observed luminescence is compared to similar measurements on nanocomposite aerogels prepared integrating the Si-nanoparticles into a continuous silica phase by sol–gel processing. The results show that incorporation of the Si-nanoparticles into a silica matrix by sol–gel technology is not detrimental to the PL (photoluminescence) emission intensity. The effect on the nanocomposites of annealing in air (at temperatures in the range of 300–500°C) has been investigated by means of PL and Raman spectroscopy. The obtained results indicate that the oxidation treatment induces the bleaching of the smaller luminescent particles and is not effective in reducing the average size. Micro-Raman mapping and TEM analysis of the nanocomposites have shown the presence of agglomerated nanoparticles (in the sub-micrometer range), as confirmed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements on colloidal suspensions of the as-synthesized powders.