Low temperature synthesis of carbon nanofibres on carbon fibre matrices

Carbon nanofibres are grown on a carbon fibre cloth using plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition from a gas mixture of acetylene and ammonia. A cobalt colloid is used as a catalyst to achieve a good coverage of nanofibres on the surface of the carbon fibres in the cloth. The low temperature growth conditions that we used would allow growth on temperature sensitive polymers and fibres. The nanofibres grown by a tip growth mechanism have a bamboo-like structure. A significant increase of the bulk electrical conductivity of the carbon cloth was observed after the nanofibre growth indicating a good electrical contact between carbon nanofibres and carbon fibres. The as-grown composite material could be used as high surface area electrodes for electrochemical applications like fuel cells and super-capacitors.