Palladium nanoparticle seeded electroless metallization of Al/Al2O3 surfaces

A simple method for the formation of palladium nanoparticles on aluminum and aluminum oxide surface is demonstrated. In the present method, the palladium nanoparticles obtained directly on the solid surface by immersing the specimen in palladium(II)acetate solution followed by reduction to metallic palladium by using sodium hypophosphite. In the investigation, as-received, boiled, electropolished and anodized aluminum was used as substrate. Additionally, the method is combined with the electroless nickel plating, which facilitates two steps metallization technique on the respective surfaces. In these cases, specimens were first immersed in palladium(II)acetate solution followed by immersion in electroless nickel plating solution, where, palladium reduced on the specimen surface providing catalytic site for the subsequent electroless nickel deposition. Using the technique, about 6 to 8.5 µm thick Ni–P metallic layer was deposited on the specimen surface.