Silicon Modification with Molecules Derived from Ferrocene: Effect of the Crystallographic Orientation of Silicon in the Electron–Transfer Rates

Abstract

This work shows the results obtained for the silicon modification with redox molecules derived from ferrocene. The effect of the crystallographic orientation of silicon on the electron–transfer rates was studied. For this study, silicon electrodes (p–type) with two different crystallographic orientations were employed: p–Si (100) and p–Si (111). The redox molecules employed were alkyl ferrocenes with 3, 5 and 10 carbon atoms (propyl, pentyl and decyl ferrocene, respectively). The results showed that the electron–transfer process is not influenced by the crystallographic orientation of silicon and that this process is determinate by electron hopping in a regime of bonded diffusion.

Keywords:

• Crystallographic orientation
• electron–transfer
• silicon electrode
• superficial modification

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by FONDECYT (Chile) Project, No. 1050700.