Open AccessSynthesis and characterization of porous silicon as hydroxyapatite host matrix of biomedical applications
Author(s) -
A. Dussán,
Saúl Bertel,
Sandra Melo,
F. Mesa
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0173118
Subject(s) - hydrofluoric acid , porous silicon , silicon , materials science , scanning electron microscope , etching (microfabrication) , wafer , analytical chemistry (journal) , substrate (aquarium) , porosity , chemical engineering , mineralogy , layer (electronics) , nanotechnology , chemistry , composite material , chromatography , optoelectronics , metallurgy , oceanography , geology , engineering
In this work, porous-silicon samples were prepared by electrochemical etching on p-type (B-doped) Silicon (Si) wafers. Hydrofluoric acid (HF)-ethanol ( C 2 H 5 OH ) [HF:Et] and Hydrofluoric acid (HF)-dimethylformamide (DMF- C 3 H 7 NO ) [HF:DMF] solution concentrations were varied between [1:2]—[1:3] and [1:7]—[1:9], respectively. Effects of synthesis parameters, like current density, solution concentrations, reaction time, on morphological properties were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. Pore sizes varying from 20 nm to micrometers were obtained for long reaction times and [HF:Et] [1:2] concentrations; while pore sizes in the same order were observed for [HF:DMF] [1:7], but for shorter reaction time. Greater surface uniformity and pore distribution was obtained for a current density of around 8 mA/cm 2 using solutions with DMF. A correlation between reflectance measurements and pore size is presented. The porous-silicon samples were used as substrate for hydroxyapatite growth by sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM were used to characterize the layers grown. It was found that the layer topography obtained on PS samples was characterized by the evidence of Hydroxyapatite in the inter-pore regions and over the surface.