Decoration of Carbon Micro/Nano Fiber Surface with Magnetic Nanostructures for Multifunctionalization

One of the biggest challenges for carbon based materials application is to tailor their physicochemical properties and assemble them into suitable architectures in a cost-effective and reproducible fashion. To reveal the nucleation, grow and grain stability of Nickel deposits on single microfiber, micro x-ray fluorescence and diffraction studies have been carried out on individual 6μm diameter carbon nanofibers at the Advanced Photon Source using beamline 2-ID-D. By using a specially designed electrochemical cell, synchrotron micro-beam techniques provide in situ structural and compositional characterization capabilities. With the understanding of the nucleation and growth mechanism of metals on the carbon surfaces; mechanical, electrical, thermal and catalytic behaviors of carbon fibers can be further improved thus lead to large-scale engineering applications of carbon based materials in lightning strike prevention, electromagnetic shielding, vibration/acoustic noise reduction, reinforced composites, catalyst substrates, supercapacitors and bio/chemical sensors.