Gold nanoclusters reductively deposited on porous silicon: morphology and electronic structures

Utilizing porous silicon as a reducing agent and a substrate, gold complex ions [AuCl4],(-) were reduced from aqueous solution to produce nanoparticles of gold upon the surface of porous silicon. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was utilized to study the morphology of the porous silicon layers and the deposits of gold nanoparticles. It is found that preparation conditions have a profound effect on the morphology of the deposits, especially on porous silicon prepared from a p-type wafer. The gold nanoparticles, varying from micrometric aggregates of clusters of the order of 10 nm, to a distribution of nearly spherical clusters of the order of 10 nm, to strings of similar to 10 nm were observed and compared to bulk gold metal using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). These techniques confirm and complement the SEM findings. The potential for this reductive deposition technique is noted.