Anodic Oxidation of Reductants in Electroless Plating

Abstract

The anodic oxidation of reductants (hypophosphite, formaldehyde, borohydride, dimethylamine borane, and hydrazine) was studied on different metal electrodes (Au, Pt, Pd, Ag, Cu, Ni, and Co) at various temperatures, with special interest in the catalytic aspect of electroless plating. The rate of the anodic oxidation strongly depended on the pH value, the concentration of reductants, and the nature of the metal electrode. The catalytic activities of the metals for the anodic oxidation of different reductants were evaluated by the potentials at a reference current density. The order of the catalytic activity with metal varied depending on the nature of the reductants. The catalytic activity series thus obtained can be utilized for choosing the reductant suitable for the metal to be deposited. Arrhenius plots of the anodic currents on different metals at a reference potential yielded their respective straight lines. Some correlations were observed between the catalytic activity and the activation energy. The catalytic activity series was discussed in connection with that for hydrogen electrode reaction.

Coaxial metal and magnetic alloy nanotubes in polycarbonate templates by electroless deposition

“…Ni has been shown to exhibit a lower borane oxidation rate capability than Pd at the potentials of electroless plating baths [19]. It is expected, therefore, that the deposition rate would decrease during nanotube growth.…”

Raman and DFT Study of the Reaction of Hydrazine and Hypophosphite on a Cu Surface in the Electroless Deposition Process

“…It has previously been proved that copper does not have catalytic activity for the oxidation of hypophosphite by experimental identification. 19 M. Kunimoto et al have also demonstrated 3 that an energy barrier exists in the dehydrogenation step which is one of the elementary steps of hypophosphite oxidation by theoretical identification. Figure 4 shows the experimental Raman spectra of mixture (hydrazine and hypophosphite) on the Cu antenna.…”

Theoretical Analysis of Catalytic Activity of Metal Surfaces on Reaction of Hypophosphite Ion

“…More specifically, Pd surfaces display strong catalytic activity on hypophosphite reactions, whereas Cu surfaces show only weak activity. 23 Hence, comparing the reaction on Pd with that on Cu allows the identification of factors that determine their catalytic activity.…”