In‐situ growth of bamboo‐like carbon nanotubes from Cu catalyst on continuous carbon fibre for interfacial enhancement

Cu nanoparticles were loaded on the surface of continuous carbon fibre (CF) and catalysed the growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) by continuous catalytic chemical vapour deposition. The results of Cu and traditional catalysts were contrastively studied in terms of surface morphology, microstructure and mechanical properties. It is reflected that the CNTs grown from Cu catalysts are in suitable distribution, with unique bamboo‐like structure and higher graphitisation degree. The carbon nanotube–carbon fibre utilising Cu catalyst has 53.0% higher interfacial shear strength than the pristine fibre, and shows advantage in tensile strength over its counterparts of traditional catalysts. Above all, a “loading–catalysis–reinforcing” mechanism was established, which theoretically and systematically explains how the nature of different catalyst metals affects the various stages in the process of growing CNT on the surface of continuous CF. This research expands the catalyst options, and develops the catalysis mechanism that offers an important theoretical guidance for the process optimization.