Luminescence nanothermometry with alkyl-capped silicon nanoparticles dispersed in nonpolar liquids

Hamza Hajjaji (1) , Sergey Alekseev (2) , Gérard Guillot (1) , Nicholas Blanchard (3, 4) , Virginie Monnier (5) , Yann Chevolot (5) , Georges Bremond (1) , Michel Querry (6) , David Philippon (6) , Philippe Vergne (6) , Jean-Marie Bluet (1)

1 INL - S&N - INL - Spectroscopies et Nanomatériaux
2 Faculty of Chemistry
3 IRIF (UMR_8243) - Institut de Recherche en Informatique Fondamentale
4 ILM - Institut Lumière Matière [Villeurbanne]
5 INL - C&N - INL - Chimie et Nanobiotechnologies
6 LaMCoS - Laboratoire de Mécanique des Contacts et des Structures [Villeurbanne]

Silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) with a diameter size ranging from 4 to 8 nm were successfully fabricated. They exhibit a visible photoluminescence (PL) due to the quantum confinement effect. Chemical functionalization of these Si NPs with alkyl groups allowed to homogeneously disperse them in nonpolar liquids (NPLs). In comparison to most of literature results for Si NPs, an important PL peak position variation with temperature (almost 1 meV/K) was obtained from 303 to 390 K. The influence of the liquid viscosity on the peak positions is also presented. These variations are discussed considering energy transfer between nanoparticles. The high PL thermal sensitivity of the alkyl-capped Si NPs paves the way for their future application as nanothermometers.

Mots clés: Functionalization; Temperature sensing; Silicon nanoparticles; Photoluminescence; Low-polarity liquids

Domaines: Matériaux; Biotechnologies

Hamza Hajjaji, Sergey Alekseev, Gérard Guillot, Nicholas Blanchard, Virginie Monnier, et al.. Luminescence nanothermometry with alkyl-capped silicon nanoparticles dispersed in nonpolar liquids. Nanoscale Research Letters, 2014, 9 (1), ⟨10.1186/1556-276X-9-94⟩. ⟨hal-01885552⟩