DOI: 10.1002/adem.201300015 First Biosourced Monolithic Macroporous SiC/C Composite Foams (Bio-SiC/C(HIPE)) Bearing Unprecedented Heat Transport Properties** By Simona Ungureanu, Gilles Sigaud, G erard L. Vignoles, Christophe Lorrette, Marc Birot,* Herv  e Deleuze and R  enal Backov* For the first time SiC/C composite foams were prepared from concentrated emulsions by carbothermal reduction of biosourced precursors combining sodium silicate by lignin at 1400 °C. The composition of the materials was determined by XRD, FTIR and Raman analyses. Their porous structure was characterized by SEM, mercury intrusion porosimetry, and nitrogen sorption, while their thermal properties were measured by TGA and dynamic DSC. Concerning their heat transport properties, we found out that when the starting lignin content was increased, the final C/Si ratio, the specific surface area and the heat diffusivity increased as well. Its unprecedented high values were attributed to a cooperative effect between radiative heat transfer and the presence of partially graphitized carbon. 1. Introduction Today, chemistry of materials relies strongly on rational design over all length scales, where final enhanced functional- ity will ensure the overall synthetic pathway to be applied. From this way of thinking has recently emerged the concept of Integrative Chemistry. [1] This new transversal domain of chemical science can be defined as an “interdisciplinary tool box” where advanced functional materials bearing hierarchical structures can be tailor-made via the smart integration of soft chemistry-based pathways and the versatile processing conditions offered by soft-matter physical-chemistry. One synthetic path combines sol–gel chemistry with lyotropic mesophases and concentrated direct emulsions to promote either inorganic Si(HIPE) [2] or hybrid organic-inorganic foams named Organo-Si(HIPE) [3] (the acronym HIPE relies for High Internal Phase Emulsion). [4] Recently, we used Si(HIPE) macrocellular foams as hard template to produce the parent carbonaceous macrocellular foams, [5] bearing standard appli- cation in Li-ion battery electrodes and chemical electro- capacitors devices, hydrogen storage when modified with Li (BH 4 ), [6] while promoting outstanding capabilities when used as bio-electrocatalysts [7–9] when functionalized with specific enzymes. This process has been also extended to the morphosyntheses of boronitride BN(HIPE) [10] and silicon carbide/carbon composite SiC/C(HIPE). [11] Indeed, silicon carbide (SiC) is an important non-oxide ceramic associated to a set of unique properties such as high thermal stability, high heat conductance addressed through small heat expansion, endurance toward high temperature oxidation and corrosion, overall chemical inertness, and bearing semi-conductor behavior at high temperature. [12–15] There are mainly two crystallographic forms of SiC: the high temperature (>1500 °C) hexagonal a-phase that presents two commercially available polytypes, namely 4H- and 6H-SiC, and the low temperature (<1500 °C) cubic b-phase. [16] Usually, a-SiC, prepared by the Acheson process [17] patented in 1892 which manufacturers still rely on today, is [*] Dr. S. Ungureanu, Prof. G. Sigaud, Prof. R. Backov Universit  e de Bordeaux, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, UPR 8641 CNRS, 115 Avenue Albert Schweitzer, 33600, Pessac, France E-mail: backov@crpp-bordeaux.cnrs.fr Dr. S. Ungureanu, Dr. H. Deleuze, Dr. M. Birot Universit  e de Bordeaux, Institut des Sciences Mol  eculaires (ISM), UMR 5255 CNRS, 351 Cours de la Lib  eration, 33405, Talence, France E-mail: m.birot@ism.u-bordeaux1.fr Prof. G. L. Vignoles Universit  e de Bordeaux, Laboratoire des Composites Thermo- structuraux, UMR 5801 CNRS-UB1-CEA-Snecma Propulsion Solide, 3 All  ee de la Bo  etie, 33600, Pessac, France Dr. C. Lorrette CEA, Laboratoire des Composites Thermostructuraux, UMR 5801 CNRS-UB1-CEA-Snecma Propulsion Solide, 3 All  ee de la Bo  etie, 33600, Pessac, France [**] We wish to thank Eric Lebraud from ICMCB-CNRS for the XRD measurements, Elisabeth Sellier from CREMEM for high-resolution SEM investigations, Dr. Ren e Pailler from LCTS for the thermal treatments and Dr. Alain P enicaud from CRPP for Raman spectroscopy measurements. DOI: 10.1002/adem.201300015 © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim wileyonlinelibrary.com 1 ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS 2013, FULL PAPER