Electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of electroless copper deposition on polyester fabric

The conventional process of electroless copper deposition uses formaldehyde as the reducing agent [1]. Nevertheless, formaldehyde is listed as a carcinogen. The hypophosphite bath does not give harmful vapor and can deposit Cu at a lower pH value. Since hypophosphite does not reduce copper ions, the required amount of nickel ions was added to the bath to sustain the reduction process of the electroless deposition [2]. The objective of this paper The results showed that, at a given temperature and pH level, deposition rate increased with a higher nickel ion concentration. The copper content in the deposits decreased, whereas nickel content increased. Phosphorus was not observed in the deposits. The surface morphology of the Cu deposits was investigated with an SEM. Compact coating layers were obtained and particle size increased with an increase of copper ion in the solution as shown in Fig. 1. The deposited copper film exhibited a characteristic face-centered cubic crystalline structure. Fig. 2 showed the shielding effectiveness of Cu plated fabrics with different concentrations of NiSO4 in the plating bath. This EMI shielding effectiveness increased greatly with higher NiSO4 concentrations due to an increase of the thickness of the deposits.is to investigate that copper is electroless plated on polyester fabric using hypophosphite as a reducing agent and nickel as mediator. Effect of additive nickel concentration on deposition rate, composition, surface morphology, crystal structure and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness of electroless copper deposits were investigated.