ABS Polymer Electroless Plating through a One-Step Poly(acrylic acid) Covalent Grafting

A new, efficient, palladium- and chromium-free process for the electroless plating of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) polymers has been developed. The process is based on the ion-exchange properties of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) chemically grafted onto ABS via a simple and one-step method that prevents using classical surface conditioning. Hence, ABS electroless plating can be obtained in three steps, namely: (i) the grafting of PAA onto ABS, (ii) the copper Cu(0) seeding of the ABS surface, and (iii) the nickel or copper metallization using commercial-like electroless plating bath. IR, XPS, and SEM were used to characterize each step of the process, and the Cu loading was quantified by atomic absorption spectroscopy. This process successfully compares with the commercial one based on chromic acid etching and palladium-based seed layer, because the final metallic layer showed excellent adhesion with the ABS substrate.