Porous silicon application survey

Abstract

All current applications of mesoporous and macroporous silicon under investigation are briefly surveyed, and more than 50 reviews over the period 1985-2014 are collated. Applications are grouped into twelve domains: electronics, optoelectronics, optics, diagnostics, energy conversion, catalysis, filtration, adsorbents, medical, food, cosmetics, and consumer care. Targeted product/function examples are given for each domain, together with the current level of industrial and academic activity. Comparisons are made with the major industrial uses of silica, comparing high-value and low-value product areas. Although porous silicon uses in electronics have the longest history of development, the most active R & D domains currently, as gauged by volume of literature, are energy conversion (lithium batteries), medical (drug delivery), and diagnostics (chip-based biosensing and mass spectrometry).