Synthesis and characterization of hollow Si-SiC composite nanospheres from hollow SiO2/C nanospheres

Hollow SiO2 nanospheres were fabricated by a modified Stober method. Hollow Si-SiC composite nanospheres were firstly prepared by reducing the hollow SiO2 nanospheres by a low temperature magnesiothermic reduction method. In the final samples of hollow Si-SiC composite nanospheres, the hollow nanosphere structure of the precursor was well preserved. SiO2 nanospheres and Si-SiC composite nanospheres with hollow structure were observed by Scanning electron microscopy and Transmission electron microscopy. Nitrogen absorption-desorption measurement indicated that Si-SiC composite nanospheres had large BET surface area of 150.33 m(2)/g and pores about 12.9 nm, and the hollow structure was indirectly confirmed. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and TG-DSC were also carried out to characterize microstructure and composition of the final samples.