Formation of hierarchical mesoporous silicon carbide from self-assembled block copolymer micelles

We report a novel technique for synthesizing hierarchical mesoporous non-oxide SiC ceramic from a block copolymer precursor. The block copolymers self-assemble into nano-scaled micelles with a core-shell structure in toluene and the subsequent pyrolysis converts the aggregation of the micelles into SiC. The resultant SiC shows hierarchical mesoporous structure and has potential applications in catalysis, solar cells, separation, and purification processes. The technique is likely applicable in other non-oxide material systems.