Chemical Vapor Deposition of <i>β</i> -SiC Nanowires on Granular Active Carbon Cylinders Loaded with Iron Nanoparticles Inside the Pores

Abstract

A new method for chemical vapor deposition of β-SiC nanowires on granular active carbon loaded with iron nanoparticles inside the pores is developed. In this process, mesoporous active carbon was used as both a carbon source material and a template to generate nanometer-diameter catalyst particles that define the size of wires produced by vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that the products are nanowires with several microns in length and about 10 nm in diameter. Selected area electron-diffraction and energy-dispersed x-ray spectra confirm that the productor is β-SiC. The observation of spherical nanoparticles containing iron at the end of the nanowires clearly indicates that the nanowires grow by the VLS mechanism.