Grafting of carbon nanotubes onto carbon fiber surfaces by step-wise reduction of in-situ generated diazonium salts for enhancing carbon/epoxy interfaces

Grafting of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) onto carbon fiber (CF) surfaces was achieved by a step-wise reduction of in situ generated diazonium salts in an aqueous solution. The CNT layers were regularly anchored onto the CF surfaces by using beta-cyclodextrin molecular tubes for encapsulating the diazonium salts. The resulting CNT/CF hybrids allow for a significantly rougher surfaces, which should potentially improve the CF/epoxy interfacial shear strength through enhanced mechanical interlocking similar to Velcro hooks. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.