Synthesis and characterization of 3C-SiC by rapid silica carbothermal reduction

In this work, rapid carbothermal reduction of silica in a homemade electric arc furnace is reported to produce silicon carbide intended for photovoltaic applications. The influence of carbothermal conditions on the composition and size of the obtained particles is studied. We demonstrate that the variation of the temperature and the atmosphere makes it possible to produce 3C-SiC powders during a short time. Morphological properties of the elaborated SiC powder were investigated using laser granulometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained samples are composed of agglomerated particles of different shapes with micrometric sizes. X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman spectroscopy analyses show that carbothermal reduction of silica depends on the experimental conditions. Especially, the sample elaborated during 120 s at 1700 °C under CO atmosphere does not present any SiO2 peaks but only pure crystallized cubic silicon carbide (β-SiC) with crystallite size around 44 nm as a result of a complete carbo-reduction of silica. The purity of synthesized SiC is investigated by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) giving rise to purity about 97.9927%.

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