Influences of sodium thiosulfate on electroless silver plating on PET fabrics

The influences of sodium thiosulfate on the stability of plating solution,surface morphology,chemical composition,crystal structure,deposition rate,surface resistance and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness(EMI SE) of the silver coated fabric were investigated.The results revealed that the stability of plating solution was significantly improved with addition of sodium thiosulfate.But high concentration of sodium thiosulfate leads to loose deposited layer.The crystalline structure of silver in deposit is of face centered cubic(fcc) structure.The grain size decreases with the increase of the concentration of sodium thiosulfate.The deposition rate decreases with the addition of sodium thiosulfate.However,the sensitivity of deposition rate on temperature increases in the presence of sodium thiosulfate.The deposition rate greatly decreases and it will bring above adverse effect on electroless silver plating when the concentration of sodium thiosulfate is higher than 0.6 mg/L.Surface resistance and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness had no significant change when the concentration of sodium thiosulfate is lower than 0.4 mg/L.