Silicon is a highly desirable material because of its relatively low absorption coefficient for visible light and relatively high refractive index, giving a high-quality factor for optical light scattering. This scattering is due to Mie resonance, where a single silicon particle demonstrates both magnetic and electric resonance upon illumination. However, the flexibility in controlling nanoparticle characteristics, such as size, shape and surface chemistry, is difficult to achieve in silicon. I will present a new solution synthesis technique, moving the field towards a higher level of control in nanosilicon synthesis.

Monolayer nanostructuration on a 2D substrate is relevant to applications in optics, as scattering from both individual and collections of nano-objects impact light reflection, absorption and transmission. The degree of control over nano-object placement and density determines the possible applications of the 2D material. However, bottom-up synthesis of surfaces using convective particle assembly do not produce materials with a high degree of control over pattern formation, meaning that many nanostructured surfaces must be achieved by expensive and low-throughput top-down fabrication techniques.

Dip-coating has been applied to the deposition of thin films using sol-gel chemistry, where the reaction mixture can be modified to either deposit a homogenous silica layer, or a perforated layer. The density and the size of the perforations depends on the reaction conditions, impacting the optical properties of such films. Continuous films and nanoparticle deposition have been combined in order to tune the visual appearance of the 2D surfaces. By mastering the chemistry of the solution, the physical parameters during deposition and the environmental conditions, homogeneous films with a sufficient level of control can be achieved using inexpensive, large-surface deposition via dip-coating.