Large-scale synthesis of crystalline β-SiC nanowires

Large quantities of high-purity crystalline beta-SiC nanowires have been synthesized at relatively low temperature via a new simple method, the chemicalvapor-reaction approach, in a home-made graphite reaction cell. A mixture of milled Si and SiC powders and C3H6 were employed as the starting materials. The results show that the nanowires with diameters of about 10-35 nm are single crystalline beta-SiC without any wrapping of amorphous material, and the nanowire axes lie along the (111) direction. Some unique properties are found in the Raman scattering from the beta-SiC nanowires, which are different from previous observations of beta-SiC materials. A possible growth mechanism for the beta-SiC nanowires is proposed.