Fabrication of conductive cotton by electroless plating method with supercritical carbon dioxide

•Pd complex was effectively impregnated in cotton by supercritical CO2.•Impregnation was performed at 80 °C and 20 MPa for 2 h.•Many Pd particles were produced inside of cotton.•Plated copper layer was uniformly produced and strongly adhered to cotton.•Resistances of cotton cloth were low.

Palladium(II) hexafluoroacetylacetonate was impregnated into cotton cloth at 80 °C and 20 MPa for 2 h by supercritical CO2. Then, the cotton cloth was immersed in NaBH4 aqueous solution at 50 °C for 2 h for reduction. Many Pd particles were observed not only on the surface of the cotton, but also inside of the cotton by TEM analysis. The cotton cloth was immersed in an electroless copper plating liquid with applying ultrasonic at 40 °C for 15 min. The plated layer on the surface of cotton was uniform in thickness and adhered strongly to the cotton cloth. The conductivities of copper plated cloth were high.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide