Due to their high mechanical robustness, thermal stability, chemical resilience, and breakdown field strength, silicon carbide (SiC)-based nanostructures can be broadly utilized in devices such as field emitters, supercapacitors, and gas sensors. While SiC nanostructures have been widely explored on rigid substrates, their integration on flexible substrates has been limited. Carbon cloth (CC) is an optimal substrate for direct SiC nanowire (NW) growth due to its high conductivity and melting point. This project seeks to investigate the growth of semi-aligned SiC NWs on CC via chemical vapor deposition. Evaluation of the as- deposited SiC NWs for select applications will be conducted and further modification of the SiC NWs/CC array will be investigated subsequently (e.g., using SiC NWs as backbones for developing application- targeted complex heterostructures or as precursors for carbide-derived carbon).
Project end date: 08/12/19