Studying the growth of carbon nanotubes on carbon fibers surface under different catalysts and electrochemical treatment conditions

Abstract

ABSTRACTA special electrochemical anodic oxidation (EAO) method was applied to modify the surface of carbon fibers (CFs) with fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether phosphate (O3P), triethanolamine (TEA), fatty alcohol polyoxyethylene ether ammonium phosphate (O3PNH4), and ammonium bicarbonate (NH4HCO3) used as the electrolyte respectively. Then different catalysts, including Ni, Co, and Cu, were used to catalyze the growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of CFs. The variation regulation of structure and property of CNTs on CFs surface was investigated by different methods. The results showed that the optimal effect of surface modification of CFs was achieved when O3PNH4 served as an electrolyte and the optimal electrochemical treatment intensity (ETI) was 100C/g. Also, with temperature variety, there are different microstructure changes for CNTs that adopt different catalysts. Through the experiment, a uniform catalyst coating was obtained on the surface of CFs after reduction process, which laid the foundation for the growth of uniform and regular CNTs.