Biomorphic porous silicon carbide prepared from carbonized millet

Biomorphic porous silicon carbide was successfully prepared by spontaneous infiltration of melted silicon into a carbon template derived from natural millet at 1600 °C for 2 h. The purified SiC sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion. The results suggest that the sample mainly consists of β-SiC and perfectly replicates the microstructure and morphology of the carbon template. The SiC sample has a mean pore diameter of 93 μm and a specific surface area of 30 m2/g, and both of them are very similar to those of the carbon template, 87 μm and 55 m2/g, respectively. The surface fractal dimension is 2.72 for the SiC sample and 2.76 for the template by analyzing the mercury intrusion data.