A soft/hard synergistic strategy to boost the interfacial properties of carbon fiber-reinforced polymers

Abstract

Despite of attracting an immense attention across various fields, the inherent surface hydrophobicity and weak bonding property of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) inevitably undermine their potential for large-scale application. Here, an innovative bio-inspired soft-hard synergistic strategy has been creatively proposed. Through the ingenious utilization of one-pot co-assembly of dopamine hydrochloride and tetraethoxysilane in an aqueous medium, CFRP was endowed with improved surface roughness and hydrophilicity. Systematic optimization experiments were conducted to determine the optimal modification parameters, and the synergistic mechanism between SiO₂ and polydopamine during co-deposition was elucidated. This study provides a green and efficient method for CFRP surface modification and suggests a promising direction for designing high-performance structural composites with broadened applicability.