Electrochemical copolymerization of acrylic acid and acrylamide on the carbon fiber surface

Abstract

Electrochemical polymerization of acrylic acid and acrylamide on carbon fiber was carried out by using cyclic voltammogram in the presence of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) as electrolyte. Cycles, monomer mass ratio, scan rate, and H2SO4concentration had an effect on the electropolymerization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic behavior of modified carbon fiber was studied. Systematic experiments were conducted to determine the tensile strength of carbon fiber/epoxy resin composites before and after modification. As a result, the tensile strength of modified carbon fiber/epoxy resin composites was improved greatly. Surface morphology of the polymer films on carbon fiber was investigated by using scanning electron microscopy. It was found that voltammograms of electrodes prepared showed irreversible oxidation–reduction of the polymer films and capacitive behaviors of coated carbon fiber were defined using Nyquist plots, Bode magnitude plot and Bode phase plot at low-frequency region.