Nowadays, variable materials have been investigated to find alternative lightweight conductors instead of copper because copper has a relatively high density. Carbon nanotube (CNT) is one of the most suitable materials as an alternative conductor to Cu, thanks to its high conductivity. In addition, CNT has many other great properties, such as low density, high strength, and high ampacity. However, individual CNT loses some of its performance after the assembly process. Therefore, CNT materials have been electroplated with copper to achieve lighter conductors. In this study, CNT buckypaper (CNTBP) is fabricated using a multi-walled carbon nanotube and copper electroplated using optimizing electrolyte with the help of additive chemicals such as accelerator and suppressor. Furthermore, the effect of hydrochloric acid in the electrolyte on the electroplating of CNTBP is observed. The results show that HCl in electrolyte enhances the effectiveness of additive chemicals and provide a well-plated CNTBP@Cu composite. The composite in this study is expected to be used in various areas.

One-step copper electroplating of carbon nanotube buckypaper using optimized electrolyte with additive chemicals
    Abstract
        Graphical abstract
    1 Introduction
    2 Materials and methods
        2.1 Fabrication of CNT buckypaper (CNTBP)
        2.2 Cu-electroplating of CNTBP
        2.3 Material and electrochemical characterizations
    3 Results and discussion
    4 Conclusion
    Acknowledgements 
    References

• Nilüfer Çakmakçı(Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, South Korea)
• Myunggyu Shin(Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, South Korea)
• Huiyeon Jung(Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, South Korea)
• Jeongyun Lee(Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, South Korea)
• Youngjin Jeong(Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, South Korea, Department of Green Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, South Korea)