Ultraviolet photoluminescence from 6H silicon carbide nanoparticles

Abstract

We report stable photoluminescence from 6H silicon carbide nanocrystals dispersed in three different solvents: water, hydrofluoric acid, and toluene. Transmission electron micrograph surveys reveal a size distribution that contains a significant fraction of monocrystal particles with diameters below 3nm—small enough for quantum confinement to play a role in increasing the effective bandgap energy. The ultraviolet photoluminescence band observed at 3.5eV in the colloidal solutions is consistent with quantum confinement estimates based on the effective mass model.