Designing of carbon nanofilaments-based composites for innovative applications

The catalytic growth of CNTs and/or CNFs polymer composites has been performed by means of the chemical vapour deposition of a C2H4/H2 gas mixture on polymer supports (i.e. para-aramide powders and fibres) at 500–600 °C. By selecting suitable reaction parameters, the concentration and the growth level of the CNTs and/or CNFs on the polymer surface can be changed, according to the final properties of the obtained composite. Nanofilaments, 20÷120 nm in diameter formed at 500 °C on polymer supported Ni catalysts, give rise, at first, to a carbon-polymer composite. A more dense porous nanotissue, then generated at 600 °C, embeds the polymer substrate with formation of a carbon-carbon composite. In this work, the progressive formation of carbon-polymer and then carbon-carbon composites is investigated by SEM, TEM and AFM microscopies and by XRD analysis.