An improved carbothermal process for the synthesis of fine-grained boron carbide microparticles and their photoelectrocatalytic activity. Issue 1 (January 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sheng, Yumao; Li, Guanglu; Meng, Hao; Han, Yide; Xu, Yan; Wu, Junbiao; Xu, Junli; Sun, Zhongqiao; Liu, Yufeng; Zhang, Xia
• Is Part Of: Ceramics international. Volume 44:Issue 1(2018)
• Page Start: 1052
• Page End: 1058
• Publication Date: 2018-01
• Subjects: Improved carbothermal synthesis -- Fine-grained size -- Boron carbide -- Photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen generation; Ceramics -- Periodicals; Céramique industrielle -- Périodiques; Ceramics; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 666
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2017.10.047
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0272-8842

Abstract

Abstract: Herein we develop an improved carbothermal process using cellulose as organic carbon resources to synthesize uniform B4 C particles in fine-grained size. The improvement of the proposed carbothermal processes lies in two points: (i) we use immiscible hexane/water solvents to obtain high-dispersed boric acid (BA), which promotes the esterification of BA with organic carbon; (ii) the boron oxide/carbon resources are ground sufficiently before high-temperature carbonization. The purpose of these two procedures is to increase the homogeneity of precursors, and their effects on the final crystalline structure and morphology of B4 C are studied systematically. The results show that uniform fine-grained B4 C in about 4 µm is successfully fabricated, indicating the homogeneity of precursors can effectively meliorate the B4 C powder in a smaller size. The photoelectrochemical and photoelectrocatalytic performances of the as-prepared fine-gained B4 C powder are also investigated. Interestingly, the fine B4 C microparticles exhibited a good photoelectrocatalytic hydrogen generation activity in water reduction. Graphical abstract: Highlights: An improved carbothermal process proposed for the synthesis of fine-grained B4 C. High-dispersed BA precursors obtained by pretreating with immiscible hexane/water. Grinding the boron oxide/carbon precursors is important for the synthesis of fine-grained B4 C. B4 C powder exhibited photoelectrocatalytic activity in the water reduction.