B-doped 3C-SiC nanowires with a finned microstructure have been synthesized. Due to the smaller band gap, the finned microstructure, and the single crystalline nature, the B-doped 3C-SiC nanowires demonstrate efficient activity as high as 108.4 μmol h⁻¹g⁻¹for H₂production.

Aiming to improve the microwave absorption performance of SiC, various methods including doping and changing the shape were adopted. In view of doping, B-doped silicon carbide (B–SiC) with a B content of 3 mass% was prepared via a simple carbothermal reduction method. By using different raw materials, SiC both in nanowire and powder forms was obtained. The microwave absorption performance was investigated. The results show that B–SiC nanowires exhibit a far more improved microwave absorption ability in the frequency range of 2–18 GHz compared with SiC nanowires. The effective absorption bandwidth of the reflection loss below −10 dB is 3.52 GHz, and the maximum reflection loss of −37.94 dB at 14 GHz with a thickness of 1.5 mm indicates that B–SiC nanowires could be used as an effective microwave absorbing material. The combination of the enhanced electrical conductivity caused by B doping and the network formed from nanowires contributes to the enhanced microwave absorption.

Fabrication of eletrochemical sensors based on wide bandgap compound semiconductors has attracted increasing interest in recent years. Here we report for the first time electrochemical nitrite sensors based on cubic silicon carbide (SiC) nanowires (NWs) with smooth surface and boron-doped cubic SiC NWs with fin-like structure. Multiple techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) were used to characterize SiC and boron-doped SiC NWs. As for the electrochemical behavior of both SiC NWs electrode, the cyclic voltammetric results show that both SiC electrodes exhibit wide potential window and excellent electrocatalytic activity toward nitrite oxidation. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) determination reveals that there exists a good linear relationship between the oxidation peak current and the concentration in the range of 50–15000 μmoL L⁻¹ (cubic SiC NWs) and 5–8000 μmoL L⁻¹ (B-doped cubic SiC NWs) with the detection limitation of 5 and 0.5 μmoL L⁻¹ respectively. Compared with previously reported results, both as-prepared nitrite sensors exhibit wider linear response range with comparable high sensitivity, high stability and reproducibility.