Recycling of silicon: from industrial waste to biocompatible nanoparticles for nanomedicine

The formation of photoluminescent porous silicon (PSi) nanoparticles (NPs) is usually based on an expensive semiconductor grade wafers technology. Here, we report a low-cost method of PSi NPs synthesis from the industrial silicon waste remained after the wafer production. The proposed method is based on metal-assisted wet-chemical etching (MACE) of the silicon surface of cm-sized metallurgical grade silicon stones which leads to a nanostructuring of the surface due to an anisotropic etching, with subsequent ultrasound fracturing in water. The obtained PSi NPs exhibit bright red room temperature photoluminescence (PL) and demonstrate similar microstructure and physical characteristics in comparison with the nanoparticles synthesized from semiconductor grade Si wafers. PSi NPs prepared from metallurgical grade silicon stones, similar to silicon NPs synthesized from high purity silicon wafer, show low toxicity to biological objects that open the possibility of using such type of NPs in nanomedicine.