Photocatalytic initiation of electroless deposition

The metallisation of insulating substrates with nano-structured metal films of controllable pore dimension

“…The rst report of such a route was made in our previous communication, 6 in which we developed a novel method to prepare porous metal lms with ordered arrays of sub-mm spherical voids on non-conducting substrates using our insulator metallisation process of Photocatalytically Initiated Electroless Deposition (PIED). [7][8][9] These lms are prepared by electrolessly depositing metal into the interstitial spaces of a hexagonally close packed polystyrene (PS) microsphere array. The microspheres are removed post-deposition, by dissolving in toluene, to leave a porous metal lm with a regular nanostructure.…”

“…These charge carriers may undergo recombination or may be used to drive useful redox reactions with species, such as metal ions, on or at the semiconductor surface. 11,12 As described in our earlier work, 7 we have appropriated the electrons photogenerated within semiconductor photocatalysts for metal ion reduction within the PIED process, so producing a metallisation technique that is both more controllable and cost-effective than conventional electroless deposition. [7][8][9] Metallisation through PIED is comprised of two main steps:…”

Fabrication and Characterisation of the Graphene Ring Micro Electrode (GRiME) with an Integrated, Concentric Ag/AgCl Reference Electrode

“…This process was also carried out on a TiO 2 coated quartz slide enabling investigation using AFM. Annealing at this temperature produces TiO 2 with predominantly anatase structure [28] and coatings are composed of interconnected, mono-dispersed, spherical primary particles within a mesoporous structure, Figure 9(a). The TiO 2 sensitised substrates were then treated in an electroless plating solution as described in Section 2.4.3.…”

“…To fabricate the Ag/AgCl reference electrode, glass capillary tubes were first metallised through photocatalytically initiated electroless deposition (PIED) [28], a novel method for the deposition of metal onto insulating substrates using a semiconductor photocatalyst previously developed in our laboratory.…”

“…Coated capillary tubes were then fired in a furnace at 773 K for 1 h to anneal the TiO 2 and produce a resilient coating. Annealing at this temperature produces TiO 2 with predominantly anatase structure [28]. Sensitised substrates were stored in the dark at room temperature before use to ensure no absorption of UV light occurred.…”