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

Electrografting onto untreated high modulus (HM) and high strength (HS) car bon fibers as well as on electrochemically oxidized HM carbon fibers was ca rried out under preparative constant current electrolysis conditions by ele ctrocopolymerizing carbazole-acrylamide. The surface morphology of the elec trografted carbon fibers was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SE M). In order to obtain at least some information about the relative surface composition of the electrografted fibers energy dispersive X-ray microanal ysis (EDX) was applied. For the characterization of chemical composition FT IR reflectance measurements were performed as well. The electrografted copo lymer exhibited good thermal stability. which was determined by thermogravi metric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The effi ciency of the electrocopolymerization on carbon fiber surfaces under prepar ative constant current electrolysis conditions was also supported by electr okinetic measurements. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.