Electrografting of poly(carbazole-co-acrylamide) onto several carbon fibers -: Electrokinetic and surface properties

Electrografting onto untreated high modulus (HM) and high strength (HS) carbon fibers as well as on electrochemically oxidized HM carbon fibers was carried out under preparative constant current electrolysis conditions by electrocopolymerizing carbazole-acrylamide. The surface morphology of the electrografted carbon fibers was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In order to obtain at least some information about the relative surface composition of the electrografted fibers energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) was applied. For the characterization of chemical composition FTIR reflectance measurements were performed as well. The electrografted copolymer exhibited good thermal stability. which was determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The efficiency of the electrocopolymerization on carbon fiber surfaces under preparative constant current electrolysis conditions was also supported by electrokinetic measurements. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.