Facile electrosynthesis of silicon carbide nanowires from silica/carbon precursors in molten salt

Abstract

Silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs) have attracted intensive attention in recent years due to their outstanding performances in many applications. A large-scale and facile production of SiC NWs is critical to its successful application. Here, we report a simple method for the production of SiC NWs from inexpensive and abundantly available silica/carbon (SiO2/C) precursors in molten calcium chloride. The solid-to-solid electroreduction and dissolution-electrodeposition mechanisms can easily lead to the formation of homogenous SiC NWs. This template/catalyst-free approach greatly simplifies the synthesis procedure compared to conventional methods. This general strategy opens a direct electrochemical route for the conversion of SiO2/C into SiC NWs, and may also have implications for the electrosynthesis of other micro/nanostructured metal carbides/composites from metal oxides/carbon precursors.