Improving the electrochemical performance of carbon filaments by solvent cleansing

Found inherent in the submicron-diameter vapor-grown carbon filament fabrication process was a tarry residue, which comprised polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Cyclic voltammetry conducted using carbon working electrodes and an iron cyanide electrolyte showed that the residue harmed the electrochemical performance. Removal of the residue from the filaments using a solvent resulted in increases in the electron transfer rate (to values as high as 0.2 cm/s) and reversibility of the iron cyanide redox species, increase in the packing density and decrease in the filament-filament contact electrical resistivity.