S1

Electronic Supplementary Information

(1) Raw materials details:

The molecular weight of high hydrogen containing polysiloxane(HPSO) is about 2000; the

ethylenediamine(EDA) is analytically pure; the purity of Al powders is 99.9% and particle size of Al

powders is 1um.

(3) More details about SiONCH sol-gel structure:

FT- IR spectrum (Figure S1) of SiONCH sol-gel shows that the products mainly contain Si-O-Si and

Si-C bond. Because Si-base compound has strong FT-IR absorb effect, the characteristic absorption

peaks of Si-O-Si(1100cm-1) and Si-C(1275cm-1) are much strong than hydrocarbon and some peaks of

C-N (1120cm-1) are covered. The peak (2970 cm-1) indicates the C-H structure of methyl. The peak

(2100cm-1) indicates the Si-H structure which is residual bond of HPSO is still existed in SiONCH sol-

gel. The characteristic absorption peak of Si-N bond (873cm-1) indicates the reactions are mainly

dehydrocoupling of Si–H and N–H units resulting in the formation of SiONCH structure. This result can

be further confirmed by mensurating H2 yield.

Figure S1. FT- IR spectrum of SiONCH sol-gel

4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 5000.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Tran

smitt

ance

[%]

Wavenumber cm-1

C-H

N-H

Si-O- Si

C-H

Si -C Si -C

Si -N

Si -H

Electronic Supplementary Material (ESI) for Journal of Materials ChemistryThis journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

S2

More structure details can be characterized by XPS spectra of N1s and Si2p of SiONCH sol-gel. As

Figure S2 shown the N1s bonding energy peak can be separated to 398.1ev and 399.1ev which are

indexed to the Si-N bond and -CH2-NH2- bond respectively. Further studies of the Si2p bonding energy

peak indicate that the bond energies of 100.8ev, 103.1ev and 101.9ev are indexed to the Si:(NxHy), -O-

Si-O- and

structures respectively. The results can confirm that SiONCH sol-gel mainly contain Si-O-Si and Si-C

structures. The reaction can be indexed to the dehydrocoupling of Si–H and N–H units.

Figure S2. XPS spectra of N1s and Si2p of SiONCH sol-gel

(3) As shown in figure S3, the length of the Sialon nanobelts can be measured by drawing the

entangled wool products till to a single nanobelt exposing. The total length is above 12mm.

CH3

CH3 Si O

N1s

396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403

5.6x103

5.8x103

6.0x103

6.2x103

6.4x103

Inte

nsity

, cou

nts

Binding Energy, ev

Si2p

98 100 102 104 1061x103

2x103

3x103

4x103

5x103

Inte

nsity

, cou

nts

Binding Energy, ev

Electronic Supplementary Material (ESI) for Journal of Materials ChemistryThis journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

S3

Figure S3. Photograph of the β-Si5AlON7 nanobelts thermal treated at 1450°C for 2 hours

(4) In the pyrolysis processe, decomposition and rearrangement reactions can cause raw materials to

product nano scale nucleus. As the figure S4 shown, the morphology of SiONCH-Al annulus debris

thermal treated at 1000°C for 2 hours is mainly SiAlONC amorphous with slight crystallization of SiC .

Further studies suggest that the particle size and C/Si ratio of SiONCH-Al structure contribute to the

nucleation of Si3N4. The nucleation temperature can decrease significantly with decreasing particle size

in starting powders as well as with increasing surface area of nano scale SiC. The C/Si ratio of

SiONCH-Al structure is 2 that provide the possibility of forming Si3N4. If the C/Si ratio is less than 3,

the reaction (2) can be possible at temperature below 1500°C.

Figure S4 XRD pattern recorded from SiONCH-Al annulus debris thermal treated at 1000°C for 2 hours

Electronic Supplementary Material (ESI) for Journal of Materials ChemistryThis journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011