Electroless plating can be used to prepare metal particle/CaCO3 composite powder, but the use of noble metal as catalytic site would increase the cost. In this work, we adopt the combined 3-amino-propyltriethoxysilane (KH550) modification and NiCl2 activation to coat CaCO3 powder by a uniform layer of Ni particles/polymer brush which acts as non-noble metal catalyst, then, a low-cost electroless plating to prepare Cu particle/CaCO3 composite powder was developed. Results showed hydrolyzed KH550 coated on the CaCO3 surface in the form of polymer brush. The active group on the polymer brush surface could chemisorb Ni[Formula: see text] and then Ni particles/polymer brush was attached on its surface. The Ni particle/polymer brush structure acted as catalytic site and could catalyze electroless copper plating on its surface. The [Formula: see text] is 1%, its average diameter is about 100[Formula: see text]nm. This means that the dependable technology has great potential application in preparing metal inorganic powder at a low cost.
Electroless Copper Plating Using Glyoxylic Acid as a Reducing Agent.