Thermally promoted addition of undecylenic acid on thermally hydrocarbonized porous silicon optical reflectors

: Thermally promoted addition of undecylenic acid is studied as a method for modifying porous silicon optical reflectors that have been pre-treated with thermal hydrocarbonization. Successful derivatization of undecylenic acid is demonstrated and confirmed with Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies. The results indicate that the hydrocarbonization pre-treatment considerably improves stability against oxidation and chemical dissolution in basic environments. The two-step treatment also does not cause an appreciable change on sample reflectance spectra, which enables the use of the functionalized structures in optical sensing applications.