Palladium electroless plating

Table 3.4 Typical composition of palladium electroless plating baths reported in literature...

The ideal electroless solution deposits metal only on an immersed article, never as a film on the sides of the tank or as a fine powder. Room temperature electroless nickel baths closely approach this ideal electroless copper plating is beginning to approach this stabiHty when carefully controUed. Any metal that can be electroplated can theoretically also be deposited by electroless plating. Only a few metals, ie, nickel, copper, gold, palladium, and silver, are used on any significant commercial scale. 

Acceleration modifies the surface layer of palladium nuclei, and stannous and stannic hydrous oxides and oxychlorides. Any acid or alkaline solution in which excess tin is appreciably soluble and catalytic palladium nuclei become exposed may be used. The activation or acceleration step is needed to remove excess tin from the catalyzed surface, which would inhibit electroless plating. This step also exposes the active palladium sites and removes loose palladium that can destabilize the bath. Accelerators can be any acidic or alkaline solution that solubilizes excess tin. 

H. Razmi and A. Azadbakht, Electrochemical characteristics of dopamine oxidation at palladium hexacyanoferrate film, electroless plated on aluminum electrode. Electrochim. Acta 50, 2193 (2005). 

Tanaka D.A.P., Llosa Tanco M.A., Niwa Si., Wakui Y., Mizukami F., Namba T., Suzuki T.M. Preparation of palladium and silver alloy membrane on a porous a-alumina tube via simultaneous electroless plating. J.Membr.Sci 2005 247 21-27. 

Electroless plating — An autocatalytic process of metal deposition on a substrate by reduction of metal ions from solution without using an external source of electrons. It is promoted by specific reductants, namely formaldehyde, sodium hypophosphide, sodium boro-hydride, dialkylamine borane, and hydrazine. Electroless deposition has been used to produce different metal (e.g., nickel, cobalt, copper, gold, platinum, palladium, silver) and alloy coatings. It can be applied to any type of substrate including non-conductors. Some substrates are intrinsic catalytic for the electroless deposition other can be catalyzed usually by sensibilization followed by Pd nucleation also, in some non-catalytic metallic substrates the electroless process can be induced by an initial application of an appropriate potential pulse. In practical terms, the evaluation of the catalytic activity of a substrate for the electroless deposition of a given metal is... 

The manufacture of dense metal membranes or thin films can be effected by a number of processes casting/rolling, vapor deposition by physical and chemical means, electroplating (or electroforming) and electroless plating. By far, casting in combination with rolling is the predominant preparation and fabrication technique. It is noted that many of these processes have been demonstrated with palladium and its alloys because of their low oxidation propensity. Preparation of dense metal membranes is summarized in some detail as follows. 

In selected cases two different metals can be codeposited onto a substrate by electroless plating. Shu etal. [1993] have attempted simultaneous deposition of palladium and silver... 

The methods for preparation of nonporous composite membrane catalyst are discussed in Ref. 10. The porous stainless steel sheets were covered with a dense palladium alloy film by magnetron sputtering [113] or by corolling of palladium alloy foil and porous steel sheet. The electroless plating of palladium or palladium alloy on stainless steel [114] or on porous alumina ceramic [115,116] gives the composite membranes with an ultrathin, dense palladium top layer. 

Palladium and palladium-silver alloy membranes on porous alumina tubes were prepared by means of simultaneous and sequential electroless plating techniques [234], The membrane reactor was used for the direct formation of hydrogen peroxide by catalytic reaction of H2 and 02 at 293 K. The concentration of H202 increased with increases in the transmembrane partial pressure gradient of H2. A high concentration of H202 was obtained with a membrane that consisted of a palladium layer on the outer surface, porous alumina in the middle, and a palladium-silver alloy layer on the inside. 

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