Synthesis of silicon carbide nanorods by catalyst-assisted pyrolysis of polymeric precursor

In this Letter, we report the synthesis of β-SiC nanorods by the pyrolysis of a polysilazane polymeric precursor in the presence of 3 wt% FeCl2 as a catalyst. The precursor is completely converted to the nanorods after heat-treated at 1700 °C for 2 h, accompanied by ∼50% weight loss. Electron microscopy study reveals that the nanorods preferentially grow along [1 1 1] direction; and the diameters of the nanorods range from 80 to 200 nm and lengths are ∼4 μm. A solid–liquid–solid growth mechanism is proposed.