Electric-field-assisted rapid synthesis of boron carbide nanopowders

At present, the industrial production of boron carbide requires high energy consumption and time-consuming. Herein, a “field-assisted synthesis” method was developed for the rapid synthesis of boron carbide nanopowders using boric acid and nano-carbon black as raw materials by applying a current size of 2 A directly through the mixed powders at 1600 °C and held it for 5 min. The phase composition and morphology of the product were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, and TEM. The results showed that the participation of current resulted in almost complete reaction of the raw material at 1600 °C, and nanoscale boron carbide was generated due to rapid nucleation at high temperatures. This work can provide important reference for the subsequent preparation of nano boron carbide and further expand the development field of boron carbide.