Abstract
In this letter, we report the formation of bulk samples of silica-based glass containing Si nanocrystals (Si-ncs) by pyrolysis of a preceramic precursor. The starting precursor is a sol–gel-derived polysiloxane containing only Si–H groups which leads, after annealing in a controlled atmosphere in the range 1000–1200 °C, to the precipitation of Si-ncs. Characterization of the nanostructure was performed by x-ray diffraction and Raman scattering analyses. Room-temperature luminescence experiments show the interesting optical properties of the Si-ncs/SiO2 material.