Study to Preparation of Nano Silicon Carbide from Thai Jasmine Rice Husk and Durian Shell Charcoal

Abstract

This research studied the synthesis of nano silicon carbide powder with the grinding of silica powder from rice husk and carbon powder from Durian rind charcoal with the ratio of 1:2 by weight then burned at 1300, 1400 and 1500 ^⸰C under the atmosphere of argon gas for 1 hour. The samples were divided into 2 groups, which were ¹st group using charcoal powder from Durian rind containing 68.73 percent carbon by weight and 2^nd group using charcoal powder from the durian rind that has been soaked in hydrochloric acid, which contains 80.76 percent carbon by weight. The result of the X-ray diffraction (XRD), it shows that the carbon structure from charcoal soaked in hydrochloric acid will show more crystal. When preparing nano silicon carbide powder, it was found that the 1^st group will result in the beta-silicon carbide (β-SiC) and alpha silicon carbide (-SiC) prominent structure when burned at 1300 °C. The image from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) found to be granular, with rounded edge an average size of about 50 – 100 nm, grouped together and looks like a line with a nanometer diameter distribution. In the 2nd group, when burned at a temperature of 1,400 °C, silicon carbide structure will be shown prominently. The X-ray diffraction pattern and morphology were like SiC. From the 1st group, it was shown that nano-silicon carbide powder could be prepared from both groups but using different firing temperatures. In which, samples prepared from non-soaked in hydrochloric acid charcoal produce silicon carbide structures at lower temperatures. Therefore, it is suitable to be developed to be able to prepare high volume nano silicon carbide powder with low cost.