Single crystalline 3C-SiC nanowires grown on the diamond surface with the assistance of graphene

Single crystalline 3C-SiC nanowires were grown directly on the surface of bulk diamond in a catalyst-participated heating treatment process at 1300 °C. The iron powder was used as catalyst and graphene was served as the second carbon source during the reaction. The sample was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and energy-dispersed X-ray (EDX). The results showed that the nanowires consisted of a crystalline 3C-SiC core that had a diameter of 40-60 nm and wrapped with about 10 nm amorphous SiO2 shell. Their lengths were up to several micrometers. The axes of nanowires lay along the [111] direction with a high density of stacking fault. Accordingly, we proposed graphene-assisted growth model to interpret the growth process of SiC nanowires on the diamond surface.