Abstract
Carbon nanofibers with an average diameter of 100nm were reacted with SiO vapor generated from a mixture of Si and SiO2 to produce silicon carbide nanofibers at temperature ranging 1200∼1500$^{\circ}C$ under vacuum. The nanofiber reacted at 1200$^{\circ}C$ for two hours consisted of silicon carbide with an average crystallite size of 10-20nm, amorphous silica and a significant amount of unreacted carbon. The surface area of silicon carbide nanofiber, obtained after removal of amorphous silica and unreacted carbon from converted carbon nanofibers at 1200$^{\circ}C$, was as high as 150㎡/g. With increasing reaction temperature to 1500$^{\circ}C$, the surface area was decreased to 14㎡/g. Growth of SiC crystallite size with increasing conversion temperature of carbon nanofiber was confirmed from Scherrer formula using the (111) diffraction line and TEM images of converted carbon nanofibers.
