“Electrochemical” growth of ZnO coating on carbon fiber

Abstract

A good quality of ZnO coating was successfully fabricated on carbon fiber at ambient temperature and pressure by a modified electrochemical method (“electrochemical” growth), where a carbon fiber was used as both a heating source and substrate, and ethanol solution of zinc acetate dihydrate as an electrolyte. The composition, microstructure and morphology, and photoluminescence property of the as-synthesized ZnO coating were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectra technologies, respectively. A possible formation mechanism was initially proposed even though more detailed study will be needed. A variety of ZnO coatings with different morphologies can be easily prepared within several tens seconds through this approach, e.g. homogeneous and dense particle shape, mesoporous structure, and Y-shape split ribbon. Our results show that the “electrochemical” growth processes obvious advantages, and it can be expected to extend to the fabrication of other oxide coatings.