Comparison of Silicon Nitride Nanofibers Synthesized Using Silica Nanopowders and Silica Gel

Sanket Deshmukh, Kei-Peng Jen, Sridhar Santhanam

Mechanical Engineering Department, Villanova University, Villanova, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/msa.2012.38074                

Abstract

Nanofibers of alpha silicon nitride were grown by a vapor-solid mechanism at 1450?C, through the carbothermal reduction process. Two different precursor silica sources were used: silica nanopowders and silica gel. The effect of processing geometry, particularly the stacking orientations of the graphite substrates, silica pellets, and crucibles, on the density of nanofiber growth was also explored. The silicon nitride nanofibers appear with a predominantly rectangular cross section from silica nanopowder precursors and with a circular cross section for silica gel precursors. Silica gel precursors produce nanofiber products that are smaller in cross section but greater in length than the products from silica nanopowder precursors. The processing geometry must be suitably designed such that the vapor-solid mechanism that is responsible for the formation of the nanofibers is not disrupted.

Keywords

Silicon Nitride; Nanofibers; Carbothermal

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	G. Y. Li, X. D. Li, H. Wang and Z. Q. Li, “Long Silicon Nitride Nanowires Synthesized in a Simple Route,” Applied Physics A, Vol. 93, No. 2, 2008, pp. 471-475. doi:10.1007/s00339-008-4808-4
[2]	F. Wang, G. Q. Jin and X. Y. Guo, “Formation Mechanism of Silicon Nitride Nanowires via Carbothermal Reduction of Carbonaceous Silica Xerogels,” Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 110, No. 30, 2006, pp. 14546- 14549. doi:10.1021/jp0619282
[3]	D. Y. Pan, S. Y. Zhang, Y. Q. Chen and J. G. Hou, “Hydrothermal Preparation of Long Nanowires of Vanadium Oxide,” Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 17, No. 8, 2002, pp. 1981-1984. doi:10.1557/JMR.2002.0293
[4]	C. N. R. Rao, G. Gundiah, F. L. Deepak, A. Govindaraj and A. K. Cheetham, “Carbon Assisted Synthesis of Inorganic Nanowires,” Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol. 14, 2004, pp. 440-450. doi:10.1039/b310387k
[5]	X. C. Wu, W. H. Song, B. Zhao, W. D. Huang, M. H. Pu, Y. P. Sun and J. J. Du, “Synthesis of Coaxial Nanowires of Silicon Nitride Sheathed with Silicon and Silicon Oxide,” Solid State Communications, Vol. 115, No. 12, 2000, pp. 683-686. doi:10.1016/S0038-1098(00)00255-6
[6]	C. J. Deng, P. Yu, M. Y. Yau, C. S. Ku and D. H. L. Ng, “Fabrication of Single Crystal Alpha Alumina Nanorods by Displacement Reactions,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 86, No. 8, 2003, pp. 1385-1388. doi:10.1111/j.1151-2916.2003.tb03480.x
[7]	W. Yang, Z. Xie, J. Li, H. Miao, L. Zhang and L. An, “Ultra-Long Single-Crystalline -Si3N4 Nitride Nanowires: Derived from a Polymer Precursor,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 88, No. 6, 2005, pp. 1647-1650. doi:10.1111/j.1551-2916.2005.00270.x
[8]	Y. Zhang, N. Wang, R. He, J. Liu, X. Zhang and J. Zhu, “A Simple Method to Synthesize Silicon Nitride and Silica Nanowires from Silicon or Silicon/Silica Mixture,” Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol. 233, No. 4, 2001, pp. 803-808. doi:10.1016/S0022-0248(01)01650-5
[9]	H. Arik, “Synthesis of Silicon Nitride by the Carbo- Thermal Reduction and Nitridation of Diatomite,” Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol. 23, No. 12, 2003, pp. 2005-2014. doi:10.1016/S0955-2219(03)00038-4
[10]	X. C. Wu, W. H. Song, W. D. Huang, M. H. Pu, B. Zhao, Y. P. Sun and J. J. Du, “Simultaneous Growth of -Si3N4 and β-SiC Nanorods,” Materials Research Bulletin, Vol. 36, No. 5-6, 2001, pp. 847-852. doi:10.1016/S0025-5408(01)00571-2
[11]	L. D. Zhang, G. W. Meng and F. Phillipp, “Synthesis and Characterization of Nanowires and Nanocables,” Materials Science and Engineering A, Vol. 286, No. 1, 2000, pp. 34-38. doi:10.1016/S0921-5093(00)00664-X
[12]	M. G. Chaudhari, S. K. Ahmadullah, R. Dey, G. C. Das, S. Mukherjee and M. K. Mitra, “Novel Techniques for Synthesis of Silicon Nitride Nanowires,” Advances in Applied Ceramics, Vol. 110, No. 4, 2011, pp. 211-214. doi:10.1179/1743676111Y.0000000003
[13]	G. J. Qi, “Si-N-C Nanowires Derived by Polyhydridome- thylsilazane Pyrolysis,” Materials Sciences and Applications, Vol. 2, 2011, pp. 936-939. doi:10.4236/msa.2011.27124
[14]	C. Xu, M. Kim, J. Chun, D. E. Kim, B. Chon, S. Hong and T. Joo, “Gallium Doped Silicon Nitride Nanowires Sheathed with Amorphous Silicon Oxynitride,” Scripta Materialia, Vol. 53, No. 8, 2005, pp. 949-954. doi:10.1016/j.scriptamat.2005.06.024
[15]	M. Bechelany, A. Brioude, S. Bernard, G. Ferro, D. Cornu and P. Miele, “Large Scale Preparation of Faceted Silicon Nitride Nanorods from Beta Silicon Carbide Nanowires,” Nanotechnology, Vol. 18, 2007, pp. 1-6. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/18/33/335305
[16]	S. Motojima, S. Ueno, T. Hattori and K. Goto, “Growth of Regularly Coiled Spring Like Fibers of Silicon Nitride by Iron Impurity Activated Chemical Vapor Deposition,” Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 71, No. 16, 1997, pp. 1001- 1003. doi:10.1063/1.101422
[17]	H. Y. Kim, J. Park and H. Yang, “Synthesis of Silicon Nitride Nanowires Directly from the Silicon Substrates,” Chemical Physics Letters, Vol. 372, No. 1-2, 2003, pp. 269-274. doi:10.1016/S0009-2614(03)00428-7
[18]	W. Han, S. Fan, Q. Li, B. Gu, X. Zhang and D. Yu, “Synthesis of Silicon Nitride Nanorods Using Carbon Nanotube as a Template,” Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 54, No. 11, 1989, pp. 2271-2273. doi:10.1063/1.120550
[19]	G. Zou, B. Hu, K. Xiong, H. Li, C. Dong, J. Liang and Y. Qian, “Single Crystalline Alpha Silicon Nitride Nanowires: Large-Scale Synthesis, Characterization, and Optic Properties,” Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 86, No. 18, 2005, Article ID 181901. doi:10.1063/1.1915509
[20]	H. Zhang, S. Zhang, S. Pan and J. Hou, “Synthesis and Characterization of Several Alpha Silicon Nitride Nanostructures,” Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 88, No. 3, 2005, pp. 566-569. doi:10.1111/j.1551-2916.2005.00130.x
[21]	S. Ren, F. Ji and X. He, “Mechanosynthesis of Silicon Nitride Nanowires,” Advanced Materials Research, Vol. 148, 2011, pp. 1347-1350. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.148-149.1347