Hansen Solubility Parameters of Stacked Silicanes Derived from Porous Silicon

Abstract

Exfoliated nanomaterials could spur great interest as a new paradigm in materials science. Therefore, we have sought organic solvents to obtain high-quality two-dimensional nanomaterials and enable their adoption in large-scale applications. However, recent approaches in liquid-phase exfoliation are based on empirical trial-and-error strategies. Here, we show that the dispersibility of stacked silicanes is discussed on the basis of Hansen solubility parameters (HSPs). Using these parameters, we demonstrate that silicanes can be efficiently dispersed in bromonaphthalene and can be exfoliated as individual sheets (1-6 nm in thickness and up to 2 μm2 in area). During the exfoliation process, the oxidation state of the obtained sheets is affected by the nature of the solvents. Furthermore, HSPs of the stacked silicanes are compared with those of graphene and hydrogen-terminated germanane.