Growth of carbon nanotube forests on carbon fibers with an amorphous silicon interface

Control of the Length and Density of Carbon Nanotubes Grown on Carbon Fiber for Composites Reinforcement

“…The I D /I G ratio found was 0.76, indicating high contributions of structural defects. The low intensity of G' band indicates low crystallinity of the tubes, since the G' band bandwidth is defect dependent [15,16]. The ratio I G' /I G are highly sensitive to tube diameter distribution and to structural variations along the tube axis, the I G' /I G ratio was found to be 0.42, whereas the G' band exhibits a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 124 cm -1 indicating a high proportion of defects for these CNTs.…”

“…In order to avoid the iron particles diffusion on the CF, they were submitted to a Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) process to perform the deposition of an amorphous Si layer on their surface, prior to the CNT growth. The Si deposition was achieved by the decomposition of Silane (SiH 4 ), at 3sccm, during 10 min in a chamber at 40 mTorr and -800 V. This PECVD synthesis procedure has been previously shown by Resende et al [15]. The CNTs was synthesized by Thermal CVD, in a tubular reactor at atmospheric pressure.…”

Continuous carbon nanotube synthesis on charged carbon fibers

“…The most prevalent method to limit carbon fiber damage during the synthesis of CNT on carbon fiber substrates is the application of a barrier coating to the fiber surfaces, which limits catalyst contact with the fiber substrate. Common barrier coatings include silicon/silica [30][31][32][33][34][35][36], alumina [37][38][39] or pyrolytic carbon. [40][41][42] However, recently, we reported that the application of a modest potential difference minimized carbon fiber damage and improved the CNT coverage without the requirement for a barrier coating.…”

Low temperature growth of carbon nanotubes on tetrahedral amorphous carbon using Fe–Cu catalyst

“…Examples include: use of nanotubes in enhanced carbon fibre composites and fuel cell electrodes [1][2][3], use as interconnects in electronic devices [4,5], and use as sensor elements [6,7]. For applications such as composites or fuel cell electrodes, there would be a distinct advantage if the tubes are grown directly on carbon fibres, yarns, or polymers, i.e., via a surface growth process [8,9]. Direct nanotube incorporation would allow for better adhesion and electrical contact between tubes and fibres than those obtained by dispersing tubes in composite resins alongside fibres [10][11][12][13].…”