In situ study of electrochemical processes of metal nano-nuclei formation, growth, and stability on single carbon microfiber for surface multifunctionalization

• Published in: Electrochemistry communications Vol. 12; no. 11; pp. 1555 - 1558
• Main Authors: Song, Shuangqi, Taniguchi, Karen, Sun, Li, Cai, Zhonghou
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01.11.2010; Amsterdam Elsevier; New York, NY
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Carbon fiber; Chemistry; Electrochemistry; Electrodeposition; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; In situ; Metallic coatings; Metals. Metallurgy; Nucleation; Production techniques; Study of interfaces; Surface treatment; XRD; Electrodeposition; Nucleation; XRD; In situ; Carbon fiber; Carbon microfiber; Scanning electron microscopy; Transition metal; X ray diffraction; Surface structure; Morphology; X ray fluorescence spectrometry; Nickel; Electrochemical reaction
• ISSN: 1388-2481; 1873-1902
• DOI: 10.1016/j.elecom.2010.08.032

With better understanding and control of metal layer formation on carbon surface, the electrical, magnetic, thermal, interfacial, and catalytic characteristics of carbon-based micro- and nanomaterials can be further improved for large-scale engineering applications. Experiments demonstrated that controlled metal electrodeposition on micro- and nanocarbon fibers can be realized in a cost-effective and reproducible fashion. Microbeam synchrotron X-ray diffraction and fluorescence techniques have been developed to provide in situ characterization capabilities to reveal the nuclei formation and growth processes on individual carbon microfibers with size, distribution, and microstructural information. The nuclei stability of the metal deposit is found to have strong dependence on its size as well as the deposition condition.