Technology Summary

There are currently two methods to produce porous silicon materials including anodisation and stain etching. However, both of these methods need a solid silicon precursor or template, hydrofluoric acid, are high cost, and are not very efficient. The method disclosed here provides a mesoporous silicon material prepared by a template-free and hydrofluoric acid-free process. This process uses the reduction of a silicon-halogenide precursor with an alkaline alloy. The resulting silicon-salt matrix can then be annealed for pore formation and crystallite growth.