Ensemble Effects in the Temperature-Dependent Photoluminescence of Silicon Nanocrystals

In this work the temperature-dependent photoluminescence of alkyl-capped silicon nanocrystals with mean diameters of between 3 and 9 nm has been investigated. The nanocrystals were characterized extensively by FTIR, TEM, powder XRD, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy prior to low-temperature and time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy experiments. The photoluminescence (PL) properties were evaluated in the temperature range of 41–300 K. We found that the well-known temperature-dependent blueshift of the PL maximum decreases with increasing nanocrystal diameter and eventually becomes a redshift for nanocrystal diameters larger than 6 nm. This implies that the observed shifts cannot be explained solely by band-gap widening, as is commonly assumed. We propose that the luminescence of drop-cast silicon nanocrystals is affected by particle ensemble effects, which can explain the otherwise surprising temperature dependence of the luminescence peak.