Rapid synthesis of nanostructured porous silicon carbide from biogenic silica

Nanostructured silicon carbide (SiC) is an exceptional material with numerous applications, for example, in catalysis, biomedicine, high‐performance composites, and sensing. In this study, a fast and scalable method of producing nanostructured SiC from plant materials by magnesiothermic reduction via self‐propagating high‐temperature synthesis (SHS) route was developed. The produced biogenic material possessed a high surface area above 200 m2/g with a SiC crystallite size below 10 nm, which has not been done previously by SHS. This method enables affordable synthesis of the material plant‐based precursors in a reaction that only takes a few seconds, thereby paving a way for nanostructured SiC production in high volumes using renewable resources. The material was also functionalized with carboxylic acid and bisphosphonate moieties, and its use as metal adsorbent in applications such as wastewater remediation was demonstrated. This study presents a method of producing silicon carbide (SiC) from a plant‐based material, tabasheer. The self‐propagating high‐temperature synthesis produced SiC with exceptionally small, under 10 nm, structures and high surface area above 200 m2/g in a reaction that took place in seconds. This work enables taking advantage of plant‐based resources to produce nanostructured SiC in an affordable and scalable manner.