Silicon nanocrystals (Si NCs) are attractive functional materials. They are compatible with standard electronics and communications platforms as well being biocompatible. Numerous methods have been developed to realize size-controlled Si NC synthesis. While these procedures produce Si NCs that appear identical, their optical responses can differ dramatically. Si NCs prepared using high-temperature methods routinely exhibit photoluminescence agreeing with the effective mass approximation (EMA), while those prepared via solution methods exhibit blue emission that is somewhat independent of particle size. Despite many proposals, a definitive explanation for this difference has been elusive for no less than a decade. This apparent dichotomy brings into question our understanding of Si NC properties and potentially limits the scope of their application. The present contribution takes a substantial step forward toward identifying the origin of the blue emission that is not expected based upon EMA predictions. It describes a detailed comparison of Si NCs obtained from three of the most widely cited procedures as well as the conversion of red-emitting Si NCs to blue-emitters upon exposure to nitrogen containing reagents. Analysis of the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the presence of trace nitrogen and oxygen even at the ppm level in Si NCs gives rise to the blue emission.

Although it is hypothesized that surface (like surface charge) and physical characteristics (like particle size) play important roles in cellular interactions of nanoparticles (NPs), a systematic study probing this issue is missing. Hence, a comparative cytotoxicity study quantifying nine different cellular endpoints, was performed with a broad series of monodisperse, well characterized silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) NPs with various surface functionalizations. Human colonic adenocarcinoma Caco-2 and rat alveolar macrophage NR8383 cells were used, to clarify the toxicity of this series of NPs. The surface coatings on the NPs appeared to dominate the cytotoxicity: the cationic NPs exhibited cytotoxicity, whereas the carboxylic acid-terminated and hydrophilic PEG- or dextran-terminated NPs did not. Within the cationic Si NPs, smaller Si NPs were more toxic than bigger ones. Manganese-doped (1 % Mn) Si NPs did not show any added toxicity, which favors their further development for bioimaging. Iron-doped (1 % Fe) Si NPs showed some added toxicity, which may be due to the leaching of Fe3+ ions from the core. A silica coating seemed to impart toxicity, in line with the reported toxicity of silica. Intracellular mitochondria seem to be a target organ for the toxic NPs since a dose-, surface charge- and size-dependent imbalance of the mitochondrial membrane potential was observed. Such imbalance led to a series of other cellular events for cationic NPs, like decreased mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) and ATP production, induction of ROS generation, increased cytoplasmic Ca2+ content, production of TNF-α and enhanced caspase-3 activity. Taken together, the results explain the toxicity of Si NPs/Ge NPs largely by their surface characteristics, provide insight in the mode of action underlying the observed cytotoxicity, and give directions on synthesizing biocompatible Si and Ge NPs, as this is crucial for bioimaging and other applications in for example the field of medicine.

A microwave-assisted reaction has been developed to produce hydrogen-terminated silicon (Si) quantum dots (QDs). The Si QDs were passivated for water solubility via two different methods: hydrosilylation produced 3-aminopropenyl-terminated and a modified Stöber process produced silica-encapsulated Si QDs. Each method produces water soluble QDs with maximum emission at 414 nm and after purification exhibit intrinsic fluorescence quantum yield efficiencies of 15 % and 23 %, respectively. Even though the QDs have different surfaces, they exhibit near identical absorption and fluorescent spectra. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy was used to temporally resolve the photoexcited carrier dynamics between the QDs and ligand. The transient dynamics of the 3-aminopropenyl-terminated Si QDs is interpreted as a formation and decay of an excited-state charge transfer (CT) state between the delocalized π electrons of the carbon linker with the Si core excitons. This CT state is stable for ~4 ns before reverting back to a more stable long-living species. The silica-encapsulated Si QDs show a simpler spectrum without CT dynamics.

Na 4 Si 4 and Na 4 Ge 4 are ideal chemical precursors for inorganic clathrate structures, clusters, and nanocrystals. The monoclinic Zintl phases, Na 4 Si 4 and Na 4 Ge 4 , contain isolated homotetrahedranide [Si 4 ] 4− and [Ge 4 ] 4− clusters surrounded by alkali metal cations. In this study, a simple scalable route has been applied to prepare Zintl phases of composition Na 4 Si 4 and Na 4 Ge 4 using the reaction between NaH and Si or Ge at low temperature (420 °C for Na 4 Si 4 and 270 °C for Na 4 Ge 4 ). The method was also applied to K 4 Ge 4 , using KH and Ge as raw materials, to show the versatility of this approach. The influence of specific reaction conditions on the purity of these Zintl phases has been studied by controlling five factors: the method of reagent mixing (manual or ball milled), the stoichiometry between raw materials, the reaction temperature, the heating time and the gas flow rate. Moderate ball-milling and excess NaH or KH facilitate the formation of

We demonstrate the synthesis of water-soluble allylamine terminated Fe doped Si (SixFe) nanoparticles as bimodal agents for optical and magnetic imaging. The preparation involves the synthesis of a single source iron containing precursor, Na4Si4 with x% Fe (x = 1, 5, 10), and its subsequent reaction with NH4Br to produce hydrogen terminated SixFe nanoparticles. The hydrogen-capped nanoparticles are further terminated with allylamine via thermal hydrosilylation. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicates that the average particle diameter is ~3.0±1.0 nm. The Si5Fe nanoparticles show strong photoluminescence quantum yield in water (~ 10 %) with significant T2 contrast (r2/r1value of 4.31). Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Mössbauer spectroscopies indicate that iron in the nanoparticles is in the +3 oxidation state. Analysis of cytotoxicity using the resazurin assay on HepG2 liver cells indicates that the particles have minimal toxicity.