Abstract: Silicon carbide nanorods were synthesized by sol-gel and carbothermal reduction processing with TEOS (tetraethoxysilane), PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone) as starting materials and Fe(NO3)3 as catalyst. The composition and morphologies of the resulting SiC were investigated by XRD,29Si MAS-NMR and TEM techniques. Results show that the morphologies of the resulting sample are tower likeβ-SiC nanorods which typically have a tower base width between 80nm and 100nm, a step layer thickness of about 10nm between two layers and a height from 0.4 to 1.0 micrometers. The corresponding selected area electron diffraction pattern indicates that the growth direction of the nanorods is parallel to [111]. It is believed that the SiC nanorods are formed by a kinetically controlled process catalyzed by Fe under a supersaturated CO vapor.