Preparation of Copper-coated Mesophase Pitch-based Carbon Fibers by Electroless Plating Technique with the APTES Grafting Modification.

An upgrade synthesis method of electroless copper plating was developed to prepare the copper-coated mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers (Cu@CF) with APTES (3-Aminopropyl triethoxysilane) grafting modification. The microstructure and properties of the fibers which were prepared by the APTES sensitization method were investigated and compared with those prepared by the conventional SnCl₂ sensitization method. The results showed that as-coated fibers sensitized by APTES demonstrated to have better interfacial cohesion between the copper layer and the fiber surface than those sensitized by SnCl₂ did. Moreover, the resistivity of Cu@CF-APTES declined to 2.3±0.9 µΩ·cm, while that of Cu@CF-SnCl₂ was 9.3±3.7 µΩ·cm. Besides, not only the strength of Cu@CF-APTES increased, but the strength discreteness of them reduced due to the fact that no peeling phenomenon was observed between the copper layer and fiber during the stretch test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]