Research on synthesis and nucleation mechanism of silicon nanowire by silver catalysis in molten salt

Molten salt electrolytic synthesis of silicon is identified as a potential industry method due to its thorough deoxidization of oxide and short-flow synthetic progress. However, figuring out a more efficient and sustainable strategy for the increase of the reduction process as well as the control of product morphology still needs endless research. In this study, benefiting from the high electrical conductivity of metallic silver and the easy separation of silver from silver-silicon alloys during the electrolysis of SiO2, metallic silver was introduced to electric-catalyze the production of silicon. Firstly, metallic silver was introduced into the silica matrix by a simple silver mirror reaction. Secondly, the mixed Ag\SiO2 precursor was located at the cathode for molten salt electrolysis. Finally, silicon nanowires were herein achieved in molten NaCl–CaCl2. Mechanisms of metal Ag played during the electric-polarization process of silica and the electrochemical nucleation of silicon were further analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectra. The results demonstrate that Ag helps construct Si nanowires via a classic Ag-Si binary alloy-droplet process and provided quantitative guidance for the large-yield production of silicon nanowires via adding 0.08–0.17 g Ag versus 1 g SiO2, controlling the temperature at 850–900 °C and electrolysis voltage at 2.6–2.8 V (2.6V at first 1 h and 2.8V at last 5 h). The synthesized silicon nanowires present two types of linear structures based on two three-phase interlines (3PIs) models and a streamed long-straight nanowire is observed.