A general strategy for in-situ fabrication of uniform carbon nanotubes on three-dimensional carbon architectures for electrochemical application

Abstract

Rational construction of three-dimensional (3D) porous carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hierarchical architectures can provide diverse frameworks for fabrication of functionalized electrodes to effectively enhance their electrochemical performance. In this paper, a modified electroless deposition (ELD) process for uniformly anchoring of Ni@Pd seeds on substrates is reported. The tightly immobilized bi-metal seeds without aggregation during annealing leads to in-situ growth of uniform intertwined CNTs arrays. The ELD seeding and CNTs growth method was successfully applied on different 3D carbon- and metal- based substrates. The 3D interconnected CNTs/carbon composites offer a hierarchical micro-/nano- network to facilitate electrolyte infiltration, while the CNTs arrays can effectively improve the electrical conductivity and enlarge the active surface area of the hybrids substrate. The hierarchical hybrid electrodes exhibit enhanced electrochemical performance in electrocatalysis and as a supercapacitor. The ELD process can be a general and scalable strategy for industrialized fabrication of any 3D carbon-based substrate and will be much promising in the applications of energy storage and conversion.