Single Carbon Fibers with a Macroscopic-Thickness, 3D Highly Porous Carbon Nanotube Coating

5 years ago

Single Carbon Fibers with a Macroscopic-Thickness, 3D Highly Porous Carbon Nanotube Coating

Lu Xu, Wenjing Xu, Wenqi Zhao, Anyuan Cao, Yijun Chen, Yunsong Wang, Shiting Wu, Huaisheng Wu, Mingchu Zou, Liusi Yang, Hui Zhang

Carbon fiber (CF) grafted with a layer of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) plays an important role in composite materials and other fields; to date, the applications of CNTs@CF multiscale fibers are severely hindered by the limited amount of CNTs grafted on individual CFs and the weak interfacial binding force. Here, monolithic CNTs@CF fibers consisting of a 3D highly porous CNT sponge layer with macroscopic-thickness (up to several millimeters), which is directly grown on a single CF, are fabricated. Mechanical tests reveal high sponge–CF interfacial strength owing to the presence of a thin transitional layer, which completely inhibits the CF slippage from the matrix upon fracture in CNTs@CF fiber–epoxy composites. The porous conductive CNTs@CF hybrid fibers also act as a template for introducing active materials (pseudopolymers and oxides), and a solid-state fiber-shaped supercapacitor and a fiber-type lithium-ion battery with high performances are demonstrated. These CNTs@CF fibers with macroscopic CNT layer thickness have many potential applications in areas such as hierarchically reinforced composites and flexible energy-storage textiles. Macroscopic CNTs@CF hybrid fibers are fabricated by directly growing a millimeter-thick 3D porous carbon nanotube sponge layer on a single carbon fiber with high interfacial strength quantified by pull-out tests, and show potential applications in reinforced nanocomposites and high-performance fiber-shaped energy devices such as supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/adma.201704419