Silicon-Containing Nanoparticles: From Functional Materials to Real-Life Applications

The progress of nanotechnology in the 21st century opened new opportunities for silicon-based nanoparticles. Great efforts have been made by scientists and researchers to utilize silicon-based nanoparticles in a broad range of applications, e.g., drug delivery, bio-sensing, solar cell and energy storage. The work presented in this thesis aims to exploit the frontier of silicon-based nanoparticles from the application perspective. Both silicon and silica nanoparticles were used in this study. For silicon nanoparticles, we are particularly interested in the long-term stability and printability of the silicon nanoparticle inks. In chapter 3, we study the long-term stability of silicon nanoparticle inks with analytical centrifuge and batch sedimentation testing. In chapter 4, using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization, we fabricated core-shell silicon/polymer hybrids with enhanced colloidal stability and printability. Chapter 5 studied the influence of silica nanoparticles’ surface morphology on the nucleation behavior when used as nucleating agents for polymer nanocomposite foaming. Chapter 6 focuses on utilizing agglomerated silica nanoparticles as the enabler to fabricate carbon quantum dots through a hydrothermal reaction at relatively low temperatures. Finally, in the outlook chapter, we briefly discussed the future and remaining challenges for moving silicon-based nanoparticles from laboratory to real-life applications in several application fields.