Nano Express
Synthesis and Characterization of Crystalline Silicon Carbide Nanoribbons
1 Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, 13699-5725, USA
2 School of Materials, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-8706, USA
3 Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6106, USA
Nanoscale Research Letters 2010, 5:1264-1271 doi:10.1007/s11671-010-9635-9
Published: 22 May 2010Abstract
In this paper, a simple method to synthesize silicon carbide (SiC) nanoribbons is
presented. Silicon powder and carbon black powder placed in a horizontal tube furnace
were exposed to temperatures ranging from 1,250 to 1,500°C for 5–12 h in an argon
atmosphere at atmospheric pressure. The resulting SiC nanoribbons were tens to hundreds
of microns in length, a few microns in width and tens of nanometers in thickness.
The nanoribbons were characterized with electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,
and were found to be hexagonal wurtzite–type SiC (2H-SiC) with a growth direction
of 
. The influence of the synthesis conditions such as the reaction temperature, reaction
duration and chamber pressure on the growth of the SiC nanomaterial was investigated.
A vapor–solid reaction dominated nanoribbon growth mechanism was discussed.
