Catalyst-free growth of multi-shaped SiC nanofibers on carbon fibers at elevated temperatures

Abstract Large quantities of multi-shaped SiC nanofibers were successfully synthesized on carbon fibers at elevated temperatures via a catalyst-free chemical vapor reaction method. FE-SEM and TEM investigations revealed that all SiC nanofibers grew along the [111] crystal orientation. The diameters of SiC nanofibers were in the range of 100–400 nm. The length of nanofibers was about several hundreds of micrometers. The vapor-solid mechanism was applied to understand the growth of the multi-shaped SiC nanofibers. The change in morphological shape of SiC nanofibers could be attributed to the temperature-dependent growth kinetics, which strongly associated with the partial pressure of SiO.