Morphology-controlled synthesis of nanostructured silicon carbide

Phenolic resin and tetraethoxysilane were used to prepare a binary carbonaccous silicon xerogel, the precursor of silicon carbide (SiC). By employing different additives in the sol-gel process, a series of xerogel precursors with differently chemical composition were obtained. Heating these xerogels to 1250degreesC, nanostructured beta-SiC with various morphologies including nanowires, nanofibers, nanoparticles and mesoporous SiC were produced via carbothermal reduction. The preparation method of the xerogels was presented and the influences of different additives on the sol-gel process and the SiC formation were discussed in this paper.