An iron catalyst for CVD of methane on carbon fibers

An iron catalyst, whose precursor form is magnetite (ferrofluid), is shown to increase the rate of carbon deposition from a methane/nitrogen atmosphere on PAN-based carbon fibers. A factorially designed set of experiments demonstrated that the type of ferrofluid catalyst was unimportant, and that dilution of the liquid-suspended catalyst lowered the deposition rate. Mass transfer effects were unimportant and the rate of deposition indicated that the deposition reaction was first-order with respect to methane concentration.