Research on manufacturing porous copper materials reinforced with carbon nanotubes for application in photothermal conversion

Abstract

In this study, porous copper reinforced with carbon nanotube (Cu-CNT) material was synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The results showed that the carbon nanotube coverage reinforcement increased with increasing deposition time. Raman spectroscopy showed that the mixture had characteristic peaks of CNT. With a CVD time of 30 minutes, the CNT growth was more significant, with a higher density covering the entire surface of the porous Cu. Compared to other samples, the synthesized material with a 30-minute growth time exhibits the highest light absorption in the visible spectrum. The average absorption rate of the sample was 93.2%, which was 15.1% higher than the 15-minute Cu-CNT samples, 36.9% higher than the porous copper, and 57.6% higher than the solid copper. These preliminary results demonstrate the potential application of the Cu-CNT composite material in photothermal conversion.