Fabrication of tower like β-SiC by sol-gel and carbothermal reduction processing

Silicon carbide nanorods were synthesized by sol-gel and carbothermal reduction processing with TEOS(tetraethoxysilane),PVP(polyvinylpyrrolidone) as starting materials and Fe(NO_3)_3 as catalyst.The composition and morphologies of the resulting SiC were investigated by XRD,~(29)Si MAS-NMR and TEM techniques.Results show that the morphologies of the resulting sample are tower-like β-SiC nanorods which typically have a tower base width between 80 nm and 100 nm,a step layer thickness of about 10 nm between two layers and a height from 0.4 to 1.0 micrometers.The corresponding selected area electron diffraction pattern indicates that the growth direction of the nanorods is parallel to \.It is believed that the SiC nanorods are formed by a kinetically controlled process catalyzed by Fe under a supersaturated CO vapor.