Doping of porous silicon with terbium organic complex

A simple but effective doping method to introduce functional organic molecules and metal ions into porous silicon with relatively simple organic complexes was developed. After porous silicon was doped with a Tb-sulfosalicylic complex, it emits bright green emission when excited with UV light. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum shows that only Tb³⁺ ions emit efficiently while the luminescence of porous silicon and organic ligands is almost thoroughly quenched. Based on the Fourier transform infrared and PL measurements, it is proposed that Tb³⁺ complex was physically adsorbed into pores of porous silicon.