Fabrication of conductive cotton by electroless plating method with supercritical carbon dioxide

Palladium(II) hexafluoroacetylacetonate was impregnated into cotton cloth at 80 degrees C and 20 MPa for 2 h by supercritical CO2. Then, the cotton cloth was immersed in NaBH4 aqueous solution at 50 degrees C for 2 h for reduction. Many Pd particles were observed not only on the surface of the cotton, but also inside of the cotton by TEM analysis. The cotton cloth was immersed in an electroless copper plating liquid with applying ultrasonic at 40 degrees C for 15 min. The plated layer on the surface of cotton was uniform in thickness and adhered strongly to the cotton cloth. The conductivities of copper plated cloth were high. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.