Silicon quantum dots are, due to their unique properties and inherently low toxicity, a material with a large number of prospective applications ranging from displays and bioimaging through
sensors and catalysis to photovoltaics. This talk will focus on our recent research of these quantum dots at the Institute of Physics of the CAS. In particular, their synthesis in non-
thermal plasma will be discussed. Next, I will present the results regarding their photoluminescence properties, where we found out that the factor determining their photoluminescence quantum yield is the presence of dark quantum dots, whereas the bright, light-emitting quantum dots have internal quantum efficiency close to one. Last, I will describe the work assessing the energy-storage properties and release of energy of plasma-synthesized silicon quantum dots using thermal oxidation. Here, the release of energy can be tuned via the structural properties properties of the surface, when the parameters of the synthesis influence surface faceting, and thus also the surface reactivity, of the produced quantum dots.