Efficient metallization based on nondestructive modification of catechol-tetraethylenepentamine composites and electroless deposition applied to polyethylene terephthalate for flexible electronics

Abstract

An improved metallized polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate prepared by catechol (CA) and tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) composites modification with electroless deposition (ELD) copper layer is presented. Through the polymerization of CA with TEPA, amino and imino groups were generated to adsorb the activated particles required for metallization. To achieve the practical application of this method, different catalytic approaches were validated. Under different catalytic conditions, the catalytic effect of UV light was most pronounced, reaching almost four times than that in darkness. The resulting solid copper layers exhibited highly reliable electrical properties, including a low resistivity of 2.73 μΩ cm, tightly spaced crystalline particles and excellent mechanical properties. The fabricated metallized PET substrates were verified for use in flexible circuit boards, demonstrating the compatibility of the proposed CA-TEPA composites modification method with the PET substrates. This method provides an effective approach to the metallization of the PET substrates, which has a widespread application in manufacturing of flexible electronics such as film capacitors.