Low temperature multi-catalytic growth and growth mechanism of carbon nanotubes on carbon fiber surfaces

Abstract In order to reduce the etching effect of the catalysts to carbon fibers caused by high temperature during the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, four multi-element catalysts, Fe–Co, Fe–Ni, Co–Ni and Fe–Co–Ni, were used to realize the low temperature growth of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on carbon fibers at 350 °C–400 °C. The results show that the growth state of CNTs has a great relationship with the type of catalysts. The catalytic efficiency of Fe–Co catalysts is low, but the graphitization degree of CNTs is relatively high. The Fe–Co–Ni catalysts has high catalytic efficiency but low graphitization degree of CNTs. The tensile strength of carbon fiber/CNTs reinforcements prepared by Fe–Ni catalysts at 400 °C is the highest, reaching 3.99 GPa, which is 11.14% higher than that of desized fiber. The melt drop phenomenon of the catalysts was found by TEM, indicating the formation of the liquid phase catalysts during the growth of CNTs. This phenomenon can change the diffusion mode of carbon atoms in the catalyst and significantly reduce the growth activation energy of CNTs, so that CNTs can grow at lower temperatures. Based on the detailed analysis of the CVD process, a low temperature growth model of CNTs on carbon fibers was proposed.