Characterization of SiC/C Nanocomposite Powders Synthesized by Arc-Discharge

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

In this paper, three carbon sources, i.e., solid graphite, gaseous CH4 and liquid ethanol, and one solid silicon source were employed to synthesize SiC/C nanocomposite powders by arc-discharge plasma. The processing conditions such as the component ratios of raw materials, atmospheric gases, etc. were adjusted for controllable synthesis of the nanopowders. It is indicated that both of solid graphite and silicon can be co-evaporated and reacted to form nanophases of cubic ${\beta}$-SiC with ~50 nm in mean size and a little free graphite; the carbon atoms decomposed from gaseous $CH_4$ favor to combine with the evaporated silicon atoms to form the dominant SiC nanophase; liquid carbon source of ethanol can also be used to harvest the main ${\beta}$-SiC and minor 6H-SiC phases in the assembly of nanoparticles. The as-prepared SiC/C nanocomposite powders were further purified by a heat-treatment in air and their photocatalytic performances were then greatly improved.