Electrophoretic Deposition of Iron Catalyst on C-Fiber Textiles for the Growth of Carbon Nanofibers

In this study, carbon nanofibers synthesis has been conducted by chemical vapor deposition on C-fiber textiles coated with an iron catalyst via electrophoretic deposition. C-fiber textiles were oxidized with nitric acid before the iron catalyst was plated by electrophoretic deposition. Due to oxidation, the hydroxyl group was created on the C-fiber textiles and was used as an active site for iron catalyst deposition. It was verified that the iron catalyst was deposited on the C-fiber textiles, while current, voltage, and deposition time varied and the concentration of electrolyte was kept constant in electrophoretic deposition. After being deposited, the iron particles were dried in oven for 24 hours and reduced by hydrogen gas in a furnace. Ethylene gas was introduced for the growth of carbon nanofibers and the growth temperature was then varied to find the optimal growth temperature of the carbon nanofibers. Thus, the characteristics of carbon nanofibers were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), N₂-sorption (BET), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). It is verified that the iron particles were most evenly deposited at 0.1 A for 3 minutes. Carbon nanofibers grew to 150–200 nm most evenly at 600 °C via temperature variations in CVD.