Preparation of Hierarchical Porous Silicon Carbide Monoliths via Ambient Pressure Drying Sol–Gel Process Followed by High-Temperature Pyrolysis

Abstract

Hierarchical porous silicon carbide (SiC) attracts great attention due to its superior chemical resistance, high thermal shock resistance, and excellent thermal stability. The preparation of a porous SiC monolith via a simple sol–gel method is limited by either the high cost of the raw materials or the special time-consuming drying process. Herein, we report an ambient drying sol–gel approach for the synthesis of organic–inorganic hybrid monolithic gels which can be converted into hierarchical porous SiC monoliths upon pyrolysis at 1400 °C. The as-synthesized SiC monoliths possess hierarchical pores with macropores of 4.5 µm and mesopores of 2.0 nm. The porosities, specific surface areas and compressive strengths of the hierarchical porous SiC monoliths are 71.3%, 171.5 m2/g and 7.0 ± 0.8 MPa, respectively.