Influence of temperature and oxygen on the growth of large-scale SiC nanowires

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of temperature and oxygen on the growth of large-scale silicon carbide nanowires by using a combination of sol–gel impregnation and carbothermal reduction methods. To investigate the growth process of SiC nanowires, the microstructural changes of nanowires at different temperatures from 1050 °C to 1550 °C were observed using SEM. In addition, XRD, TEM and FTIR were also used to analyze the nucleation, crystal structure and chemical phase of the SiC nanowires. XPS revealed the chemical reactions that occur during the growth of SiC nanowires. In this paper, we also evaluated the impacts of temperature and oxygen from SiOC (an intermediate) on the growth of SiC nanowires. The results show that a proper temperature was necessary for the nucleation and growth of SiC nanowires. The findings also indicate that the presence of O₂ could contribute to the growth of longer SiC nanowires.