Electrochemical and Mechanical Effects of Acid and Thermal Treatments of Carbon Fiber

Abstract

This paper presents modification method toward preparing activated structural carbon fibers (CFs) possessing both good electrochemical and mechanical properties. The surface treatment of CFs has been carried out by chemical and chemical–thermal oxidation, and supercapacitors have been fabricated with CF electrodes. Effects of surface treatment on fiber surface characteristics, mechanical properties, and electrochemical performances were investigated. Results show that proper treatment of CF by chemical–thermal oxidation provides an effective way to enlarge the fiber surface area (increase around 45‐fold), strengthen fiber surface chemical activity, and fiber tensile strength (increase around 20%) as well as its energy storing ability (increase around 129‐fold).