Improved oxidation resistance of expanded graphite through nano SiC coating

Expanded graphite with nano SiC and amorphous SiCxOy coating was successfully prepared through pyrolysing silane coupling agent (SCA), where the grafting of SCA dominated the final products. The results show that mainly amorphous SiCxOy coating covers expanded graphite at 1000 °C, regardless of the SCA concentration. In comparison, nano SiC coating can be synthesized at 1200 °C depending on the good dispersion of SCA (with a SCA concentration of 50 vol%). The formed SiC coating contributes to much higher peak oxidation temperature (812.1 °C) than 678.0 °C of the pure expanded graphite. Meanwhile, the oxidation activation energies of expanded graphite are remarkably improved from 149.15 kJ/mol to 176.16 kJ/mol (based on Kissinger method), attributing to the derived nano SiC and SiCxOy coating.