Silicon Nanodisks via a Chemical Route

Silicon nanodisks were synthesized by combining phase separation of SiO with extreme conditions created by the pulsed-laser-ablation-in-liquid technique. Their structure and growth mechanism are carefully investigated in this study. The disk shape is found to result from the restrained growth along the [110] direction due to the absorption of SiO 2 phase on the {110} planes, which have the highest surface energy. Such silicon nanodisks give blue light emission and thus may have potential applications in nanoelectronics.