Growth of SiO 2 hierarchical nanostructure on SiC nanowires using thermal decomposition of ethanol and titanium tetrachloride and its FTIR and PL property

Abstract

Novel SiO 2 hierarchical nanostructure has been grown on SiC nanowires using thermal decomposition of a mixture of ethanol and titanium tetrachloride. Novel nanostructure was realized in one synthesis route. Based on SEM and TEM observations, the hierarchical nanostructure consists of core-shell SiC–SiO 2 main stem nanowire and a lot of SiO 2 nanorod branches grown on the main stem. A mean diameter of SiC central cores was about 40 nm and their lengths reach about 100 μm. The lengths and diameters of SiO 2 nanorod-like branches were ranged in 400–800 nm and 30–120 nm, respectively. The growth of core-shell SiC–SiO 2 nanowires obeyed vapor–liquid–solid mechanism and the SiO 2 nanorod-like branches grew via vapor–solid mechanism. The infrared absorption and photoluminescence properties of the grown nanostructure were investigated.