The original oxide passivation of silicon nanocrystals was replaced with organic capping in a colloidal solution of xylene. The organic passivation was confirmed by the presence of Si-C bonds in FTIR spectra.
The influence of such a replacement on the photoluminescence properties was investigated. The organically capped silicon nanocrystals exhibit bright (quantum yield of 20 %) yellow photoluminescence and negligible light scattering.
Moreover, the PL radiative lifetime is also dramatically reduced, decreasing by several orders of magnitude when compared to the original oxide-passivated nanocrystals, down to approximately 10 ns.