Electroless plating of carbon nanotubes with silver

Carbon nanotubes are promising reinforcing materials for their unique mechanical and physical properties, but metallic matrix poorly wets carbon nanotube. Through electroless plating carbon nanotubes are coated with a continuous layer of silver, which will increase interfacial strength between carbon nanotube and metallic matrix. SEM and TEM show that the active site and deposition rate have important influences on the effect of electroless silver plating.