Intercalation of manganese chloride into mesophase pitch-based graphite fibers via gaseous complexes

The intercalation of certain metal chlorides into carbon fibers presents so me problems, which depend on both their structure (three-dimensional orderi ng in particular) and the intercalation techniques. In this work. the inter calation of manganese chloride into pitch-based carbon fibers was investiga ted. The use of manganese chloride in the presence of iron(III) chloride or copper(II) chloride enhances the vapor pressure of the manganese salt and thus makes easier the intercalation process. The results of this work confi rm the existence of FeCl3-MnCl2 complexes in the gaseous phase during inter calation. Stage-I intercalation compounds have been obtained for different graphite fibers. Several experimental techniques were used to characterize both the pristine and the intercalated graphite fibers, including X-ray dif fraction, Raman spectroscopy and electrical resistivity measurements. (C) 2 001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.