Electroless plating of Ag-TiO_2 nanoparticle composite on PET fabric

TiO2 nanoparticles were firstly dispersed by using different dispersants,and then was added to the solution of silver ammonia.The Ag-TiO2 composite coating on PET fabric was performed by electroless plating.The morphology,structure,and thermal property of the Ag-TiO2-coated fabric was characterized using SEM,EDX,XRD and TG.The electromagnetic shielding effectiveness,electrical conductivity,abrasion resistance,air permeability and degradation of methylene orange dye under UV irradiation of the fabric were investigated.It was found that the introdution of TiO2 nanoparticles had no effect on the structure of the Ag coating when PVA and Tween 80 were used as dispersant.But the crystal size increased.With the increase of the mass concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles,the plating rate increased at first,then decreased and increased at last.As compared with the Ag-plated fabric,the onset decomposition temperature of the Ag-TiO2-plated fabric did not change when the weighting percentage was identical.However,the abrasion resistance was increased and air permeability was decreased.The electromagnetic shielding effectiveness was improved when the mass concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles was below 0.2 g/L.The capability of photocatalytic degradation of methylene orange dye under UV irradiation was obtained.