Synthesis of silicon nanoparticles for hydrogen gas production

Abstract Hydrogen is one of the promising alternative energy sources today. Hydrogen H2 is an ideal fuel with a high calorific value and a non-hazardous combustion product. Large volume of researches in the field of “hydrogen energy” are carried out. Therefore, this research area attracts more and more attention of researchers from all over the world. In this work the synthesis of silicon nano- and micro particles was carried out in a plasma of radio frequency (RF) discharge in a mixture of monosilane (2%) and argon (98%) at different values of pressure, power and synthesis time. The SEM image and the chemical composition of the samples were obtained, and the particle size distribution was constructed. Also, graphs of the time dependence of particles nucleation at different plasma parameters and the distribution of the diameter and concentration of particles on the synthesis time in the Ar / SiH4 plasma were obtained.