Silver plating on hollow glass microsphere and coating finishing of PET/cotton fabric

In order to develop the functional fabric endowed with electromagnetic shielding and thermal protection ability, hollow glass microspheres were first deposited with silver by electroless plating using silver nitrate 0.03 mol/L, ammonium hydroxide 0.008 mol/L, sodium hydroxide 0.1 mol/L, glucose 0.005 mol/L, tartaric acid 0.0006 mol/L, and anhydrous alcohol 0.18 mol/L. The Ag-deposited hollow glass microspheres were subsequently coated on the surface of PET/cotton fabric by adhesive printing process. The particle integrity, morphology, composition, and crystal texture of Ag-deposited microspheres were investigated by means of size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The diffuse reflectance spectrum, electrical conduction, shielding effectiveness, and thermal radiant protection performances were also measured. The results showed that a specific performance of PET/cotton fabric coated with Ag-deposited glass microspheres was obtained.