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.