Issue 35, 2013
From the journal:

Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Up-scalable and controllable electrolytic production of photo-responsive nanostructured silicon

Wei Xiao,ab   Xianbo Jin*a  and  George Zheng Chen*ac  

* Corresponding authors

a College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, P. R. China
E-mail: xbjin@whu.edu.cn
Fax: +86 27 68756319
Tel: +86 27 68756319

b School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, P. R. China

c Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and Energy and Sustainability Research Division, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
E-mail: george.chen@nottingham.ac.uk

Abstract

The electrochemical reduction of solid silica has been investigated in molten CaCl2 at 900 °C for the one-step, up-scalable, controllable and affordable production of nanostructured silicon with promising photo-responsive properties. Cyclic voltammetry of the metallic cavity electrode loaded with fine silica powder was performed to elaborate the electrochemical reduction mechanism. Potentiostatic electrolysis of porous and dense silica pellets was carried out at different potentials, focusing on the influences of the electrolysis potential and the microstructure of the precursory silica on the product purity and microstructure. The findings suggest a potential range between −0.60 and −0.95 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) for the production of nanostructured silicon with high purity (>99 wt%). According to the elucidated mechanism on the electro-growth of the silicon nanostructures, optimal process parameters for the controllable preparation of high-purity silicon nanoparticles and nanowires were identified. Scaling-up the optimal electrolysis was successful at the gram-scale for the preparation of high-purity silicon nanowires which exhibited promising photo-responsive properties.

Graphical abstract: Up-scalable and controllable electrolytic production of photo-responsive nanostructured silicon

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C3TA11823A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 May 2013
Accepted
07 Jun 2013
First published
07 Jun 2013

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013,1, 10243-10250

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Up-scalable and controllable electrolytic production of photo-responsive nanostructured silicon

W. Xiao, X. Jin and G. Z. Chen, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2013, 1, 10243 DOI: 10.1039/C3TA11823A

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