Semiconductor nanostructures via electrodeposition from ionic liquids

Al-Salman, Rihab; Meng, Xiangdong; Zhao, Jiupeng; Li, Yao; Kynast, Ulrich; Lezhnina, Marina M.; Endres, Frank

doi:10.1351/PAC-CON-09-09-25

Pure Appl. Chem., 2010, Vol. 82, No. 8, pp. 1673-1689

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-09-09-25

Published online 2010-05-14

Semiconductor nanostructures via electrodeposition from ionic liquids

Rihab Al-Salman¹, Xiangdong Meng², Jiupeng Zhao³, Yao Li², Ulrich Kynast⁴, Marina M. Lezhnina⁴ and Frank Endres¹*

¹ Institute of Particle Technology, Clausthal University of Technology, D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
² Center for Composite Materials and Structure, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China
³ School of Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Inorganic Chemistry/Applied Materials Science, University of Applied Sciences, Münster, Germany

Abstract: The fascinating properties of ionic liquids make it possible to synthesize semiconductor nanostructures via a simple and low-cost electrochemical pathway. The present paper summarizes our recent work on the synthesis of Si, Ge, and Si_xGe_1–x nanostructures from ionic liquids: thin films, nanowires and photonic crystals. We also introduce our first results on the template-assisted electrodeposition of Si_xGe_1–x photonic crystals from 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide ([EMIm]Tf₂N) ionic liquid, and some optical measurements on the previously prepared Ge photonic crystals. Our results confirm that electrochemistry in ionic liquids is excellently suited to the synthesis of high-quality semiconductor nanostructures.