Effective preparation of SiC nanoparticles by the reaction of thermal nitrogen plasma with solid SiC

It is well known that SiC nanoparticles are mainly prepared by a gas phase reaction involving thermal decomposition or by precursor methods. In this paper, we propose a new process of effectively preparing SiC nanoparticles through a reaction between nitrogen arc plasma and a solid SiC block or a mixture compact of Si and C powders. The solid SiC block is irradiated with nitrogen arc plasma containing various nitrogen partial pressures at a total pressure of 0.1 MPa. The generation rate of SiC nanoparticles in 100% Ar plasma is negligible. However, the generation rate of SiC nanoparticles increases with increasing the nitrogen concentration in Ar. In the case of 100% nitrogen plasma, the generation rate has the highest value.