Hierarchically nanostructured carbon fiber-nickel-carbon nanotubes for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes

The Electrochemical Behavior of Carbon Fiber Microelectrodes Modified with Carbon Nanotubes Using a Two-Step Electroless Plating/Chemical Vapor Deposition Process

“…Sengupta and Jacob [ 21 ] concluded that the dissolved carbon element would diffuse toward the bottom of the Ni particles and segregates as graphite on the CF surface. The Raman spectrum proved that the structure of the CNTs was multi-walled [ 17 ]. As the CNTs growth time increases, carbon generated from the decomposition of acetylene increases, causing CNTs to grow in length (as shown in Figure 3 f–h), thus enlarging the thickness of the CNT layer, as revealed by Brukh and Mitra [ 22 ].…”

“…The CNTs were directly grown on the CFs segment that was first coated with catalytic electroless nickel (Ni), followed by a CVD process in an acetylene/argon environment. A series of pre-treatments for CFs were carried out to ensure the successful growth of CNTs [ 17 ]. These steps included: (1) removal of the sizing agent on CFs through immersing the samples in acetone for 40 min; (2) sensitization and activation treatments using the aforementioned sensitizing and activating solutions for 10 min sequentially, with ultrasonic vibration assistance; (3) electroless plating of a Ni-layer on the CF surface using a recipe listed in Table 1 .…”

“…These steps included: (1) removal of the sizing agent on CFs through immersing the samples in acetone for 40 min; (2) sensitization and activation treatments using the aforementioned sensitizing and activating solutions for 10 min sequentially, with ultrasonic vibration assistance; (3) electroless plating of a Ni-layer on the CF surface using a recipe listed in Table 1 . To differentiate this work from previous work [ 17 ], the plating time was set at 2 min, in order to obtain a thin Ni layer; and (4) growth of the CNTs via a vapor-liquid-solid mechanism via the CVD method in a vacuum tube furnace (FWL(ZK)-08/70/3, Facerom, Hefei, China). During the CVD process, the growth temperature was set to 680 °C, and acetylene gas (20 sccm) was introduced as the carbon source and argon (50 sccm) as the carrier gas.…”

“…Among the existing methods used to modify the CFME with CNTs, a two-step method combining electroless plating and a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process shows great promise. Using this method [ 17 ], a CF-Ni-CNTs coaxial fiber structure was successfully fabricated on the surface of a CF. Experimental results validated the fact that the SSA and capacitance of CF were significantly enhanced by this structure.…”

Nanocasting synthesis of an iron nitride-ordered mesopore carbon composite as a novel electrode material for supercapacitors

“…To overcome this problem and enhance the electrochemical performance, carbon material and transition metal nitride composites have been synthesized by researchers. The carbon materials such as ordered mesoporous carbons (OMC), activated carbons, carbon nanobers, and carbon nanotubes [29][30][31][32] with a high specic surface area can increase the electric conductivity of composite materials and provide a carbon skeleton to support the uniform deposition of metal nitride particles, thus increasing the utilization efficiency of transition metal nitrides. [33][34][35][36] There are only a few investigations and research on the use of iron nitride as an electrode material for supercapacitors.…”