There are well established methods for the electroless plating of metals onto non-conducting surfaces such as polyimide and printed circuit boards (PCBs)¹. After surface preparation of the substrate the electroless pre-treatment typically consists of a functionalisation stage followed by catalysation¹. This latter stage deposits a catalytic metal (typically Pd) which initiates the electroless copper deposition reaction¹. This approach, when applied to textiles, can produce a multi-functional material with high electrical and thermal conductivity but which is also flexible and wearable. However, the use of Pd as catalyst can significantly impact costs and so there has been work in recent years to investigate other more cost effective catalysts². These have included Ag nanoparticles and, more recently, Cu nanoparticles².

In this paper 3 approaches to electroless copper catalysation (based on Pd, Ag and Cu nanoparticles) are compared. Characterisation of the metallised textiles and fabrics was performed using approaches such as conductivity measurements, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Scanning White Light Interferometry to determine whether alternatives to Pd catalysts could be utilised. Functionalised nanoparticles dispersed and deposited in a variety of solvents are considered for catalytic activity using cyclic voltammetry, dynamic light scattering and UV-vis spectroscopy. In addition, ultrasonication, adhesion testing, catalyst loading as well as selected self-assembled monolayers are investigated to determine the optimum production parameters for a selection of fabrics.

This work is carried out as part of the MATUROLIFE project which is a European Union Horizon 2020 project that brings together two different disciplines, material science and design, to produce high added value assistive technology products. These items will be aesthetically pleasing as well as designed with functionality in mind.

1. “Additive Process for patterned metallised conductive tracks on cotton with applications in smart textiles", K.A.Wills, K. Krzyzak, J. Bush, R. Ashayer-Soltani, J.E. Graves, C. Hunt and A.J. Cobley, The Journal of The Textile Institute, DOI: 10.1080/00405000.2017.1340822 (2017).
2. “Ultrasound assisted dispersal, of a copper nanopowder for electroless deposition”, J.E. Graves, M.Sugden, R.E. Litchford, D.A. Hutt, T.J. Mason and A.J. Cobley, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 29, 428-438, (2016).