[nanoPost] Depositing metal coatings on to a range of substrates

University UK

These substrates include glass, ceramic, plastic film, and even cloth. We do this by means of specially-synthesised liquids, which are applied as a thin coating on to the substrate. When heated under moderate conditions, the coating is converted to a porous film containing catalytic, nano-sized particles. When the coating is then immersed in an electroless plating bath containing a salt of the metal of interest, the catalytic particles cause the metal to be deposited on to the substrate. Unlike conventional methods of depositing metal, such as evaporation or sputtering, the shape of the substrate is irrelevant. Consequently tubes, fibres, cloth etc., can be coated uniformly with strongly adherent metal.

There are a large number of applications for this technology, including next-generation electronic circuit boards and flat panel displays. For this reason we have formed a small University spin-out company.