Graphite tapes (100 mm × 15 mm × 0.5 mm) were obtained from the Gee Graphite Ltd, which were used for synthesizing the graphene flakes. Plain weave carbon fibres were purchased from Sigmatex, which used the Hexcel HexTow® carbon fibre, with the density of 199 g/m 2 . The low viscosity Araldite LY564 and Aradur 2954 were received from Huntsman. The 3aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES), sulphuric acid (H2SO4) and ethanol were purchased from Fisher Scientific and used as received.