Synthesis of core-shell SiO x/carbon nanofibers on silicon substrates by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Abstract

We synthesized the core-shell SiO x/carbon nanofibers with diameters of 200-300nm using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis with a phosphorus/ethanol mixture. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) investigations confirmed the core-shell structure, which consisted of a core of Si O x and a shell of amorphous carbon. The phosphorus atoms corroded the entire silicon substrate surface, and the Si-P liquid-catalyzed the solid-liquid-solid mechanism is proposed to explain the growth of the core-shell SiO x/carbon nanofibers. Copyright © 2012 Jianhui Zhang et al.