Fabrication of a Pure, Uniform Electroless Silver Film Using Ultrafine Silver Aerosol Particles

Abstract

To obtain evenly distributed pure Ag particles with a narrow size distribution on a polymer membrane, a novel activation procedure with an environmentally friendly, cost-effective method was utilized as a pretreatment before electroless Ag deposition. The pretreatment was first performed on an untreated membrane surface by collecting ultrafine ambient spark-generated Ag aerosol particles. After annealing, the electroless Ag film was fabricated on the collected aerosol particles in the Ag electroless bath. Experimental characterizations showed that the ultrafine Ag particles were uniformly anchored onto the membrane surface through pretreatment, resulting in a pure Ag film of closely packed particles with a narrow size distribution on the membrane, and the properties were comparable to those of an Ag film on wet Sn-Ag-activated membranes.