Increasing anhydrous chromium chloride concentration in AlCl3–EMIC ionic liquid: a step towards non-hydrogen-embrittlement chromium electroplating

Electroless deposition of metallic Cr on an Al substrate proves the thermodynamic feasibility of Cr electroplating.

Fabrication of Polycrystalline Cubic Boron Nitride/Metal Composite Particles by Surface Metallization Followed by Electroless Deposition Technique

Polycrystalline cBN/copper composite abrasive particles were prepared by an electroless powder coating process. Ti metallization and tin/silver metallization techniques were used to improve the coating process by depositing an autocatalytic metallic layer on the surface of the cBN particles. Metallized, as well as un-metallized, cBN particles were further coated by copper using electroless deposition. Electroless copper coating of un-metallized and metallized cBN particles by 90 wt.% of copper were achieved. The surface morphology, the composition and the crystalline phase identifications of the metallized cBN particles, as well as the 10 wt.% cBN /copper composite powders, were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy, an energy-dispersive spectrometer and an X-ray diffractometer. The results show that the surface of the Ti metalized and tin/Ag-metallized cBN particles were covered by the nanosized Ti or Ag layer, respectively, which enhanced the deposition of the copper during the electroless deposition bath. The results also showed that the deposited layer on the metallized cBN particles was composed mainly of metallic copper. The produced 10 wt.% cBN/copper composite particles also underwent thermo-gravimetric analysis to investigate its stability at high temperature. It was revealed that the Ti-metallized cBN/copper composite powder has higher stability at 800 °C under the environmental conditions than the tin/silver-metallized and the un-metallized cBN/copper composite particles, respectively.

Fabrication of junction-free Cu nanowire networks via Ru-catalyzed electroless deposition and their application to transparent conducting electrodes

Over the past few years, metal nanowire networks have attracted attention as an alternative to transparent conducting oxide materials such as indium tin oxide for transparent conducting electrode applications. Recently, electrodeposition of metal on nanoscale template is widely used for formation of metal network. In the present work, junctionless Cu nanowire networks were simply fabricated on a substrate by forming a nanostructured Ru with 80nm-width as a seed layer, followed by direct electroless deposition of Cu. By controlling the density of Ru nanowires or the electroless deposition time, we readily achieve desired transmittance and sheet resistance values ranging from ~1 kΩ/sq at 99% to 9 Ω/sq at 89%. After being transferred to flexible substrates, the nanowire networks exhibited no obvious increase in resistance during 8000 cycles of a bending test to a radius of 2.5 mm. The durability was verified by evaluation of its heating performance. The maximum temperature was greater than 180°C at 3 V and remained constant after three repeated cycles and for 10 min. Transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the adhesion between the electrolessly deposited Cu and the seed Ru nanowires strongly influenced the durability of the core-shell structured nanowire-based heaters.

Fabrication of Metal/Carbon Nanotube Composites by Electro Chemical Deposition

Metal/carbon nanotube (CNT) composites are promising functional materials due to the various superior properties of CNTs in addition to the characteristics of metals, and consequently, many fabrication processes of these composites have been vigorously researched. In this paper, the fabrication process of metal/CNT composites by electrochemical deposition, including electrodeposition and electroless deposition, are comprehensively reviewed. A general introduction for fabrication of metal/CNT composites using the electrochemical deposition is carried out. The fabrication methods can be classified into three types: (1) composite plating by electrodeposition or electroless deposition, (2) metal coating on CNT by electroless deposition, and (3) electrodeposition using CNT templates, such as CNT sheets and CNT yarns. The performances of each type have been compared and explained especially from the view point of preparation methods. In the cases of (1) composite plating and (2) metal coating on CNTs, homogeneous dispersion of CNTs in electrochemical deposition baths is essential for the formation of metal/CNT composites with homogeneous distribution of CNTs, which leads to high performance composites. In the case of (3) electrodeposition using CNT templates, the electrodeposition of metals not only on the surfaces but also interior of the CNT templates is the key process to fabricate high performance metal/CNT composites.