Preparation and Research of Electroless Copper on Carbon Fibers

In this paper, Cu coated carbon fibers were prepared using the electroless plating method. Effects of pretreatment, dispersing capability, formaldehyde, temperature, and pH on electroless plating process were studied. The connection between the Cu2+ concentration in the electroless plating solution and the plating time at different temperatures was studied. The process of the electroless Cu plating was analyzed and calculated, which derived the activation energy of the electroless copper plating on carbon fibers: Ea = 32.68 kJ/mol. The effect of the mass of carbon fibers and Cu coated carbon fibers which were dispersed in 80 mL distilled water on the conductivity of the solution was also studied. And as a result, the conductivity of the solution increased with the amount increasing. However, when the amount of the fibers was more than 0.08 g, the fibers would be incompletely dispersed. Thus, it could be concluded that the best accession amount of carbon fibers in 80 mL distilled water was 0.08 g. The corresponding conductivity values of carbon fibers and copper-coated fibers were 12.5 and 20.5 µs/cm, respectively.