ELECTROLESS NICKEL PLATING ON CHITOSAN-MODIFIED WOOD VENEER

An activation process involving chitosan was conducted to prepare electroless nickel plated wood veneers for electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. In this process Pd(II) ions were chemically adsorbed on wood surface modified with chitosan. Then they were reduced and dipped into a plating bath in which Ni-P co-deposition was successfully initiated. The coatings were characterized by SEM-EDS and XRD. The metal deposition, surface resistivity, and electromagnetic shielding effectiveness were measured. The morphology of the coating observed by SEM was uniform, compact, and continuous. EDS results showed that the coating consists of 1.8 wt.% phosphorus and 98.2 wt.% nickel. XRD analysis indicated that the coating was crystalline, which is supposed to be related to the low phosphorus content. The plated birch veneers exhibited electro-conductivity with surface resistivity of 0.24 Omega.cm(-2) and good electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of over 50 dB in frequency range from10 MHz to 1.5 GHz.