The synthesis of beta-SiC nanoparticles by high-energy mechanical ball milling and their photoluminescence properties.
We succeeded in the synthesis of single-phase beta-SiC nanoparticles via simple and low-cost high-energy mechanical ball milling of a silicon and graphite mixture at ambient temperature. The synthesis products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The results show that starting graphite and silicon mixture reacted completely into beta-SiC nanoparticles with an average grain size of approximately 8 nm after being milled for 20 h, and the grain size gradually decreased as milling time increased from 20 to 60 h but remained basically unchanged above 60 h. The agglomeration problem of the beta-SiC nanoparticles synthesized by ball milling was resolved to a great extent by the introduction of 2 wt% NH4Cl to the initial Si-C mixture. Under 325 nm excitation, a stable and intensive broad emission peak at 387 nm was observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the synthetic nanoparticles, and this emission shows an obvious blueshift of bandgap.
Zhang
Guangqiang
G
College of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, China.
Wei
Guodong
G
Zheng
Kezhi
K
Li
Liang
L
Xu
Dapeng
D
Wang
Deyong
D
Xue
Yanfeng
Y
Su
Wenhui
W