FIB-SIMS investigation of carbazole-based polymer and copolymers electrocoated onto carbon fibers, and an AFM morphological study

The work presented in this paper reports preliminary results obtained by focused ion beam-secondary ion mass spectroscopy (FIB-SIMS) analysis in the study of micro-sized carbon fiber electrocoated by conjugated-nonconjugated polymers such as poly(N-vinylcarbazole-co-methylthiophene), poly(N-vinylcarbazole-co-vinylbenzene sulfonic acid) and polycarbazole. The aim of this study was to investigate by FIB-SIMS analysis the presence and concentration gradient of certain elements via depth profiling of the coating on selected carbon fibers. The presence of dopant ions together with their gradient of concentration in the coating layer was elucidated as well as the thickness of the copolymer layer electrocoated onto the carbon surface. AFM analysis performed on the electrocoated fibers yielded information regarding the surface morphology and roughness.