Facile flame catalytic growing carbon coating on Cu panel with surface protection performance comparable to that of graphene film via CVD

Abstract

Uniform amorphous carbon films were deposited on polycrystalline copper substrate within a few minutes by a facile flame coating method. The effects of the flame coating process on the grain structure, corrosion resistance and mechanical properties of the metal substrate were investigated and compared with those of graphene counterpart via chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Due to the different heating temperature required for carbon deposition, it was found that the crystalline and grain structure of the Cu substrate varied with the deposition method, as well as their mechanical properties. Results indicated that the higher temperature, the larger metal grains formed and the lower hardness accordingly. Thanks to the lower temperature required for the flame coating approach, the hardness of the carbon coated Cu samples was much larger than that of graphene coated ones. Moreover, the corrosion current density of Cu with flame coating for 15 min declined sharply to be one thirtieth of that of bare Cu in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution, which was comparable to that of graphene coated sample. Furthermore, the oxidation resistance performance of both carbon and graphene coating as protective layer for Cu in hot air was also studied. Results indicated that the amorphous carbon had comparable protective performance with that of graphene layer and both of them slowed down the oxidation of Cu at elevated temperature. The corresponding corrosion mechanism was also proposed.