Preparation of SiC nanowires based on graphene as the template by microwave sintering

In this study, silicon carbide was prepared by microwave sintering method with graphene as carbon source and ethyl orthosilicate as the silicon source. First, SiO2 particles were in situ covered on the surface of graphene by sol-gel method, and then one-dimensional silicon carbide nanowires were obtained by carbothermal reduction reaction. The macro morphology of SiC nanowires with different sintering temperatures was observed, and the samples were characterized and analyzed by XRD, FTIR, and SEM. From the XRD results, we can see there were sharp diffraction peaks of SiC sintering at1500 °C, indicating that β-SiC was generated at 1500 °C via microwave sintering. It can be shown that one-dimensional SiC nanowires were interwoven into the two-dimensional SiC nanonetworks due to using graphene sheets as the templates. The results showed that SiC nanowires could be successfully prepared by microwave sintering using graphene/SiO2 as precursors; the optimal sintering temperature is 1500 °C, and the keeping time is 40 min. Therefore, using microwave sintering to synthesize SiC is a more appropriate way to reduce manufacturing energy consumption, save cost and improve production efficiency.