TITLE:
Characterization of Surface State of Inert Particles: Case of Si and SiC
AUTHORS:
Désiré M. K. Abro, Pierre Dablé, Fernando Cortez-Salazar, Véronique Amstutz, Hubert Girault
KEYWORDS:
IR and XPS Sprectra, Si, SiC, Surface State, Zeta Potential
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
28,
2016
ABSTRACT: Silicon and Silicon carbide particles have been investigated by the mean of infrared (IR) spectroscopy
and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to establish their surface states. The results of
this research are based on the estimation of the area under the high resolution peaks by isosceles
triangles. This approach leads to the repartition of the particles surfaces in term of atomic percentage
and of type of bonds. The surface of silicon particles is divided up into 54.85% of Si-O
bonds and 36.85% of Si-Si bonds. The remaining surface is constituted of zeolite, the raw material
used to produce the silicon particles. The surface of silicon carbide particles consists of 50.44% of
Si-C bonds, 24.01% of Si-O bonds and 25.55% of graphite. 10.01% of the graphite is derived from
the oxidation of Si-C bonds while 11.48% is due to contamination. The zeta potential evolution
versus pH confirms the distribution of chemical groups found.