Synthesis of diameter-fluctuating silicon carbide nanowires for excellent microwave absorption

Abstract

In this work, diameter-fluctuating SiC nanowires have been prepared with carbonized bamboo pulp paper and Si–SiO2 mixed powders as the raw materials. The as-prepared silicon carbide nanowires were investigated through XRD, Raman spectroscopy, FESEM and TEM. The experimental results show that the SiC nanowires with fluctuating diameter are of single-crystalline β-SiC phase with high-density stacking faults (SF) and have diameters of 150~500 nm and lengths of 2–10 μm. The SiC nanowires with fluctuating diameter show excellent microwave attenuation performance, with a broad effective absorption frequency bandwidth (reflection loss values below the < −10 dB) of 3.59 GHz with a 2.8 mm thickness in X band. Simultaneously, the minimal reflection loss reached −52.41 dB at 8.39 GHz with a 3.25 mm thickness. The high density stacking faults and the unique diameter-fluctuating morphology in the SiC nanowires result in the prominent microwave absorption properties.