Ultra-small angle X-ray scattering from bulk nanoporous carbon produced from silicon carbide Original Research Article

The technique of ultra-small angle X-ray scattering has been applied in parallel with the X-ray diffraction method for structural studies of bulk nanoporous carbon materials chemically produced from polycrystalline SiC powders with certain variations in the technology. The experiments were performed with MoKα and CuKα radiation. The integral absorption and scattering coefficients have been estimated for different types of samples. The experimental data reveal a strong correlation between the diffraction patterns and angular distributions of the scattering intensity. The correlation is associated with graphite-like nanoclusters that can be formed on carbonization of the SiC precursor under certain technological conditions. By analyzing the combined scattering and diffraction data, it is shown that the nanoclusters are quasi-two-dimensional. Their size parameters, concentration, volume fraction, and contribution to the scattering coefficient have been found.