Ionic Liquids Can Permanently Modify Porous Silicon Surface Chemistry

To develop ionic liquid/porous silicon (IL/pSi) microarrays we have contact pin-printed 20 hydrophobic and hydrophilic ionic liquids onto as-prepared, hydrogen-passivated porous silicon (ap-pSi) and then determined the individual IL spot size, shape and associated pSi surface chemistry. The results reveal that the hydrophobic ionic liquids oxidize the ap-pSi slightly. In contrast, the hydrophilic ionic liquids lead to heavily oxidized pSi (i.e., ox-pSi). The strong oxidation arises from residual water within the hydrophilic ILs that is delivered from these ILs into the ap-pSi matrix causing oxidation. This phenomenon is less of an issue in the hydrophobic ILs because their water solubility is substantially lower.