Regenerative Electroless Etching of Silicon

Regenerative electroless etching (ReEtching), described herein for the first time, is a method of producing nanostructured semiconductors in which an oxidant (Ox 1 ) is used as a catalytic agent to facilitate the reaction between a semiconductor and a second oxidant (Ox 2 ) that would be unreactive in the primary reaction. Ox 2 is used to regenerate Ox 1 , which is capable of initiating etching by injecting holes into the semiconductor valence band. Therefore, the extent of reaction is controlled by the amount of Ox 2 added, and the rate of reaction is controlled by the injection rate of Ox 2 . This general strategy is demonstrated specifically for the production of highly luminescent, nanocrystalline porous Si from the reaction of V 2 O 5 in HF(aq) as Ox 1 and H 2 O 2 (aq) as Ox 2 with Si powder and wafers.