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Silica coating of vapor grown carbon fibers

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Abstract

Silica coatings have been applied to vapor grown carbon fibers (VGCFs) by a liquid phase deposition process. Unlike the coating of single walled carbon nanotubes, the addition of a surfactant to “solubilize” the VGCFs results in an extremely non-uniform coating consisting of spherical silica aggregated around the tubes. As was observed for fullerenes, hydroxylation of the surface of the VGCF appears to be key to the formation of a uniform silica coating. Irrespective of the type of VGCF, heating a suspension of VGCFs in nitric acid to dryness (Type II) gave us the best results in terms of silica growth around the VGCF and there is a correlation between the percent of hydroxyls present on the VGCF surface and on the type of growth that occurs on the VGCF. Nitric acid treatment of VGCFs for 1 day in solution were precipitated with acetone (Type III treatment), and then coated with silica. This acid treatment made the coated fibers highly soluble in EtOH.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this work was provided by NASA. Dr. Benji Maruyama (Wright Patterson Air Force Base, OH), Pasha Nickolaev, Olga Gorelik, Sivaram Arepalli and Leonard Yowell (NASA Johnson Space Center, TX) are acknowledged for donation of VGCFs and useful discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, and Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Rice University, Houston, TX, 77005, USA

    Huma R. Jafry, Elizabeth Whitsitt & Andrew R. Barron

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  1. Huma R. Jafry
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  2. Elizabeth Whitsitt
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  3. Andrew R. Barron
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Correspondence to Andrew R. Barron.

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Jafry, H.R., Whitsitt, E. & Barron, A.R. Silica coating of vapor grown carbon fibers. J Mater Sci 42, 7381–7388 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-007-1596-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-007-1596-8

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