Tailoring porous/filament silicon using the two-step Au-assisted chemical etching of p-type silicon for forming an ethanol electro-oxidation layer

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we are reporting on the fabrication of a porous silicon/Au and silicon filament/Au using the two-step Au-assisted chemical etching of p-type Si with a specific resistivity of 0.01, 1, and 12 Ω·cm when varying the Au deposition times. The structure analysis results show that with an increasing Au deposition time of up to 7 min, the thickness of the porous Si layer increases for the same etching duration (60 min), and the morphology of the layer changes from porous to filamentary. This paper shows that the uniform macro-porous layers with a thickness of 125.5–171.2 μm and a specific surface area of the mesopore sidewalls of 142.5–182 m2·g−1 are formed on the Si with a specific resistivity of 0.01 Ω·cm. The gradient macro-porous layers with a thickness of 220–260 μm and 210–290 μm, the specific surface area of the mesopore sidewalls of 3.7–21.7 m2·g−1 and 17–29 m2·g−1 are formed on the silicon with a specific resistivity of 1 and 12 Ω·cm, respectively. The por-Si/Au has excellent low-temperature electro oxidation performance with ethanol, the activity of ethanol oxidation is mainly due to the synergistic effect of the Au nanoparticles and porous Si. The formation mechanism of the uniform and gradient macro-porous layers and ethanol electro-oxidation on the porous/filament silicon, decorated with Au nanoparticles, was established. The por-Si/Au structures with perpendicularly oriented pores, a high por-Si layer thickness, and a low mono-Si layer thickness (with a specific resistivity of 1 Ω·cm) are optimal for an effective ethanol electro-oxidation, which has been confirmed with chronoamperometry measurements.