A novel low cost method for the synthesis of ceramic nano silicon oxycarbide powder

Although different methods have been used for manufacturing micro- Silicon Oxycarbide (SiOC) powder, there is no account of nano-SiOC synthesis in the literature. In this study, a novel low cost sol–gel method was used for the synthesis of nano-silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) powder. An organic–inorganic hybrid, i.e., a Tetraethyl Ortosilicate/Polydimethylsiloxane (TEOS/PDMS) mixture, was used as the starting material. The sol–gel technique was employed to cross-link the precursors using a base catalyst. Consequently, the gel was dried at 90 °C for 24 h. The dried gel was pyrolyzed in a two-step process in argon atmosphere. The synthesized powder was investigated using XRD, FTIR, TGA, FESEM and BET techniques. XRD and FTIR analyses identified the product to be SiOC. BET analysis showed a specific surface area of about 150 m²/g for the synthesized powder, thereby suggesting its nano-sized characteristics. FESEM studies further confirmed that the powder was nano-sized with an average particle size of about 50 nm. The proposed procedure could be, therefore, a simple low cost method for the synthesis of nano-SiOC powder.