Abstract
The importance of solvent-mediated monophenylsilane (MPS) decomposition kinetics for high-yield solution-phase silicon nanowire synthesis was determined. The results show that changing the solvent from hexane to toluene and benzene increases the yield of Si nanowires from milligram quantities to milligrams in a 10 mL reactor. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) imaging show that the nanowires have only a very thin rough surface layer while the total yield of nanowires increases with increasing reaction temperature. The results also show that MPS decomposition and Si nanowire growth depend strongly on the solvent. It is also shown that MPS undergoes homogeneous bimolecular disproportionation, involving hydrogen and phenyl exchange through a four-center activated complex to product silane and diphenylsilane.