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One-step copper electroplating of carbon nanotube buckypaper using optimized electrolyte with additive chemicals

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Abstract

Nowadays, variable materials have been investigated to find alternative lightweight conductors instead of copper because copper has a relatively high density. Carbon nanotube (CNT) is one of the most suitable materials as an alternative conductor to Cu, thanks to its high conductivity. In addition, CNT has many other great properties, such as low density, high strength, and high ampacity. However, individual CNT loses some of its performance after the assembly process. Therefore, CNT materials have been electroplated with copper to achieve lighter conductors. In this study, CNT buckypaper (CNTBP) is fabricated using a multi-walled carbon nanotube and copper electroplated using optimizing electrolyte with the help of additive chemicals such as accelerator and suppressor. Furthermore, the effect of hydrochloric acid in the electrolyte on the electroplating of CNTBP is observed. The results show that HCl in electrolyte enhances the effectiveness of additive chemicals and provide a well-plated CNTBP@Cu composite. The composite in this study is expected to be used in various areas.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Industrial Material Core Technology Development Program (Grant No. 20004272, Development of Rapid Hand Cooling Technology for Injection Mold Using Nano Carbon based Surface Heating Element) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIT) (NRF-2020R1A2C2006720).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul, 06978, South Korea

    Nilüfer Çakmakçı, Huiyeon Jung, Jeongyun Lee & Youngjin Jeong

  2. Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul, 06978, South Korea

    Myunggyu Shin

  3. Department of Green Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul, 06978, South Korea

    Youngjin Jeong

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  1. Nilüfer Çakmakçı
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Correspondence to Youngjin Jeong.

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Çakmakçı, N., Shin, M., Jung, H. et al. One-step copper electroplating of carbon nanotube buckypaper using optimized electrolyte with additive chemicals. Carbon Lett. 33, 1035–1043 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-023-00507-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-023-00507-1

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