Preparation of Composite Particles via Electroless Nickel Plating on Polystyrene Microspheres and Effect of Plating Conditions

Polymer core and metal shell composite particles have been prepared by the electroless nickel plating on the surface of monodisperse polystyrene microspheres. Various sizes of polystyrene particles with highly monodisperse state could be synthesized by controlling the dispersion medium in dispersion polymerization. Electroless nickel plating was performed on the polystyrene particle with diameter of 3.4 mu m. The morphology of polystyrene/nickel composite particles was investigated to see the effect of the plating conditions, such as the PdCl2 and glycine concentrations and the dropping rate of nickel plating solution, on nickel deposition. With PdCl2 and glycine concentrations at more than 0.4 g/L and 1 M, respectively, more uniform nickel layer and less precipitated nickel aggregates were formed. At the given plating time of 2 h, the same amount of plating solution was introduced by varying the dropping rate. Though the effect of dropping rate on particle morphology was not noticeable, the dropping rate of 0.15 mL/min for 60 min showed rather uniform plating.