Strong luminescence from nanoporous Si with high degree of nanoporous structure by electrochemical etching of Si wafer

•Nanoporous Si was created successfully by electrochemical etching of Si wafer.•Nanoporous Si surface with a dendrite-like structure and mesoporous one was tailored by electrochemical voltages.•The creation of mesoporous structure of the Si resulted in a significantly enhancing luminescence of the nanoporous Si.

This article reports the first attempt to creation of a highly nanoporous silicon (Si) with a mesoporous structure to achieve strong and stable luminescence of Si, particularly, by applying an optimum voltage during electrochemical etching of Si wafer. The microstructure of nanoporous Si was depended on the electrochemical etched voltage that was observed to have a dendritic-like structure to a mesoporous one. The creation of mesoporous structure of the Si resulted in a significantly enhancing luminescence of the nanoporous Si, which was potential application in nanomedicine.