The objective of this work was to examine the effect of oxygen plasma treatment on the surface chemistry of carbon fibres. Virgin, unsized high-strength carbon fibres were subjected to oxygen plasma treatments with different degrees of severity. Adsorption of probe molecules with different acid-base characteristics (acetone, carbon tetrachloride, trichloromethane, dichloro m ethane, diethyl ether, nitromethane, tetrahydrofurane) was measured at 303-353 K using inverse gas chromatography (IGC) at infinite dilution. Plasma treatment brings about increases in the specific free energy of adsorption of either acidic, basic or amphoteric probe molecules, indicating creation of surface functionalities with various acid-base strengths. This helps to justify the improvement in interfacial adhesion in polycarbonate matrix composites following plasma treatment of carbon fibres. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.