New technology for silicon nanoparticles synthesis developed earlier this year by scientists at Moscow Lomonosov State University (MSU) enables the use of the nanoparticles in biomedical diagnostics, visualizing inhomogeneity in tissue structure.

Nanostructured silicon (Si) has long been in broader use than the original application in microchips and solar cells. One of the new and promising applications is diagnostics of tissue and body cells. A competitive technique that brings about such nanostructured Si is pulse laser ablation of silicon in liquids and gases.

A team at MSU’s Department of Physics, Femtosecond Nanophotonics Lab, experimented with ablation techniques and has shown that porous silicon films serve perfectly as ablation targets.

These materials are easy to make by simple and cost-effective electrochemical etching. Their low heat conductance and high enough mechanical strength enable an exponential increase in Si nanoparticle yield, compared to other methods.