Scanning tunnel microscopy study of rayon-based carbon-fiber surfaces

Abstract

Because of its atomic resolution, scanning tunnel microscopy (STM) was applied to the study of the surface topography, in air, of rayon-based carbon fibers (RCF) that were not previously studied. By a variety of larger scales, RCF exhibits some rugosities with "peaks" and "valleys." The surfaces arc characterized by stripe-form crystallite stackings with the diameter of about 10 nm aligned at an angle between 45 and 60° to the fiber axis. A graphite like structure was first observed on the surface of RCF examined at an atomic resolution scale. Distances between two adjacent carbon atoms of RCF and that between the closest centers of hexagonal carbon rings were estimated. It was also concluded that the hexagonal structure of RCF is deformed graphene (graphitelike) compared with that of highly oriented pvrolyric graphite.