Fabrication and photoluminescence performance of SiC nanoparticles with different structure

ABSTRACT

Highly dispersed β-SiC nanoparticles and core-shell structure nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel and carbothermal reduction methods, in which corn husks and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) were respectively employed as carbon and silica precursors, with different masses of cobalt nitrate as additive. The SiC nanoparticles and core-shell structure nanoparticles have diameters of 20–80 nm. They are perfect candidates to study the structure effect of SiC nanoparticles on their optical properties. Photoluminescence properties of core-shell structure nanoparticles were different from those of traditional nanoparticles. The core-shell structure nanoparticles show an abnormal blue shift when the excitation wavelength moves from 290 to 330 nm, which is likely caused by core-shell structures and core-shell interface defects. A possible growth mechanism is proposed to interpret the synthesis process.

KEYWORDS:

• SiC nanoparticle
• corn husk
• core-shell structure
• photoluminescence

Funding

This work has been supported by Scientific Research Program Funded by Shaanxi Province Education Department (No. 16JK1270), The Scientific Research Projects of Weinan Normal University (No. 15YKS002).