High-Performance Carbon Fiber/Gold/Copper Composite Wires for Lightweight Electrical Cables

Abstract In this study, we synthesized high-performance Carbon Fiber/ Gold/ Copper (CF/Au/Cu) composite wires by using a 2-step deposition method via sputtering and electrodeposition. After Au was sputtered on PAN-based CFs as a pre-treatment, the wettability and surface reactivity of the CFs were improved, resulting in a homogeneous deposition of Cu on their surface. At different Cu electrodeposition time, the resulting CF/Au/Cu composite wires could possess a high strength of up to 3.27 GPa ( ˜ 10 times stronger than copper wires) while their electrical conductivity could be as high as 4.4 × 10 5 S/cm ( ˜ 75% of that for copper). More importantly, since the composite wires were lightweight (up to 70% lower than Cu mass density), they are a promising candidate to substitute conventional heavy metal wires in the future electrical applications.