A new method for low-temperature preparation of graphene-reinforced copper-based composites with excellent mechanical and electrical properties

The in-situ growth of graphene on the surface of copper powder is an ideal process for preparing high-performance copper-based composites. However, high graphene growth temperature reduces the specific surface area of the copper powder and hinders graphene content. To tackle these challenges, this paper proposes utilizing the high surface energy and gas permeability of nano-sized porous copper powder for low-temperature graphene growth. The process involves transforming micron-sized solid Cu 2 (OH) 2 CO 3 powder into 100–200[Formula: see text]nm porous copper powder at 300 ∘ C. Following this, a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method deposits carbon atoms from acetylene (C 2 H[Formula: see text] onto the porous copper powder at 300 ∘ C to 500 ∘ C, forming 2–5 layer in-situ graphene films. After hot isostatic pressing, the graphene film is torn into strips, creating a graphene-copper composite bulk material. The Cu/Gr-500 composite shows a 2.42% decrease in electrical conductivity and a 1.6% decrease in elongation, while yield strength and tensile strength improve by 40.7% and 19.0%, reaching 295.8 and 322.29[Formula: see text]MPa, respectively. This research offers a new method for low-temperature in-situ growth of graphene on metal surfaces and low-cost fabrication of high-performance metal composites.