referring to the drawing , the collector 10 , e . g . of molybdenum , is of generally rod like form with an enlarged diameter part 9 near one end . this collector is suspended coaxially in a cylindrical silica or glass reaction vessel 11 , typically having a diameter of 40 to 15 mm , which is arranged with its axis upright . the vessel 11 is surrounded by a helical water - cooled copper coil 12 which is coupled to a high frequency generator 13 . the spacing between adjacent turns of the coil 12 is typically 15 mm , and the diameter of the coil is about 100 mm . the collector 10 is suspended so that only the narrow diameter portion lies within the coil as , in this particular construction , only this narrow diameter part is to be coated with carbon . the vessel 11 has controlled inlets 14 , 15 for reactant gases and an outlet 16 leading to a pump . the reactor vessel 11 is evacuated to about 0 . 02 torr and then filled with an inert gas e . g . argon to 2 . 0 torr and the pressure maintained at that level by adjustment of a throttle valve 17 in the pumping line . the high frequency power is then applied to the coil 12 typically at 1 . 2 kv and a plasma sheath develops around the collector 10 , which is coupled to earth ( or may be biased negatively ). after 15 to 30 minutes , when the collector 10 has reached thermal equilibrium and the surface thereof has been cleaned by bombardment with inert gas ions , the carbon containing reactant gas , e . g . ethylene , is let into the vessel 11 , the pressure being adjusted and controlled to maintain a pressure of 2 . 0 to 2 . 5 torr . carbon is now deposited on the collector ; the coating time determines the thickness , the rate of deposition being constant . typically 45 minutes would give 1 to 2 μm coating . the reactant gas and the power are turned off , then the argon , and the system evacuated . the collector 10 then cools under vacuum . the temperature that it has reached is determined by the currents induced in the skin of the material by the high frequency . factors affecting this temperature include the power to the coil , the dimensions of the coil and the collector , the material of the collector and the frequency applied . the reactant gas for this example is ethylene , which is fed in at 30 ml min - 1 , together with argon as the carrier inert gas which is fed in at 95 ml min - 1 . it has been found that with this technique , the collector is uniformly coated with a very fine carbon , which is essentially amorphous , having an extremely fine crystallite size , of low modulus and strongly adherent to the collector . the following are two examples of test results obtained with sodium sulphur cells employing current collectors formed as described above . a molybdenum rod current collector was coated with carbon by the plasma activated vapour deposition method described above . the current collector was employed in a cell in which the sulphur was contained inside a tubular solid ceramic electrolyte of beta - alumina with the sodium outside the electrolyte tube . this cell completed 135 cycles during 35 days at 100 ma cm - 2 discharge current density and 50 ma cm - 2 charge current density before electrolyte failure occurred . there was no rise in cell resistance during the 135 cycles and in this respect the cell shows a distinct advantage over similar cells run to date . the capacity remained at 76 % of the theoretical based on the weight of sulphur in the electrode . cells containing a molybdenum rod current collector without a carbon coating show a rapid loss of capacity with cycling . as molybdenum is expensive , a current collector was made having a mild steel substrate with a thin film ( 25 μm ) of molybdenum applied over its surface by a soft vacuum deposition method . the molybdenum layer was protected by a coating of carbon put down by the pavd method described above . the cell embodying this current collector completed 220 cycles during 52 days ( and continued to run ) at 100 ma cm - 2 discharge and 50 ma cm - 2 charge current density . the capacity remains constant at 73 % of theoretical based on the weight of sulphur in the electrode . the resistance of the cell has remained constant . the behaviour of the cell is , therefore , much akin to the cell in example 1 . apart from the use of the cheaper substrate , the current collector is constructed in the same way . it has been found that pavd carbon layers deposited onto smooth layers , such as result from vapour deposition methods , are better than coatings on a rougher surface , such as a surface resulting from plasma spraying . if the current collector is long , it may be desirable to provide the mild steel with a core of a good electrically conducting material such as aluminium or copper . it is convenient to use a radio frequency field so that the substrate is inductively heated . if alternative heating means are provided , there is no need to have a coil and thus the radio frequency power may be applied to two electrodes or between one electrode and the article to be coated . instead of a radio frequency field , in this case a d . c . field may be employed . with a d . c . field , conveniently the article forms one electrode and the second electrode is in the form of a cylinder , conveniently of mesh material , inside the evacuated vessel . in some cases , the article may be arranged in the field between two electrodes . using electrodes instead of a coil , it becomes readily possible to obtain more intense fields and the substrate may be heated by the electrical discharge .