Metal-coated carbon fiber for lighter electrical metal wires

•Preparation of metal-coated carbon fiber for lighter electrical metal wires.•Superb electrical properties of metal-coated carbon fiber along with lower weight.•Excellent interfacial quality between copper and carbon fiber.

In this study, we plated thin conducting Cu layer in a thickness of 200-300 nm on the surface of carbon fiber that was supposed to replace the core of Cu wire for weight reduction. The metal-coated carbon fibers (MCF) exhibit comparable electrical properties to the bulk Cu including the electrical conductivity of 5.9 × 10−6 Ω cm, temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) of 1.14 × 10−3/K, and featureless 1/f noises. In addition to electrical properties, the Joule heating of MCF revealed that the MCF terminated itself when the temperature of MCF significantly rose. This was due to the much lower burning temperature of carbon fiber, comparing to that of Cu, which can be beneficial in the prevention of a fire sparked by a hot metal wire.