Catalyst-free growth of high purity 3C-SiC nanowires film on a graphite paper by sol-gel and ICVI carbothermal reduction

3C-SiC nanowires have been synthesized without any catalyst by carbothermal reduction method, which obtained silicon and carbon source from sol-gel impregnation and isothermal chemical vapor immersion (ICVI) process respectively. The microstructure analysis by SEM showed the nanowires with a diameter of ∼200 nm and a length of several millimeters were hierarchical. TEM images and XRD data from the nanowires revealed them to have the cubic 3C-SiC structure. The vapor solid epitaxial mechanism was also proposed to explain the growth process.