Influence of the preparation conditions on the synthesis of high surface area SiC for use as a heterogeneous catalyst support

Abstract

The influence of different parameters (temperature, duration and SiO source) on the synthesis of silicon carbide SiC according to the gas-solid reaction between SiO vapors and activated charcoal was investigated. The material obtained retained the general shape of the activated charcoal, which is an advantage because of the difficulty in post shaping SiC, due to the high strength of the material. High temperature (>1250 °C) and long reaction duration led to a high C* → SiC conversion but with a relatively low surface area (20–25 m2 · g−1) due to sintering via the surface diffusion phenomenon. The combination of a lower reaction temperature (1200 °C), longer reaction duration (15 h) and high (Si + SiO2)/C* weight ratio allowed SiC to be obtained with a surface area of around 50 m2 · g−1, which can be used as a support material for heterogeneous catalysis.