Electroless copper deposition and interface characteristics of ionic electroactive polymer

In this study, the cheap copper electrode ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) was prepared by chemical deposition. The formation mechanism of the copper electrode layer was analyzed firstly, then the surface and cross section morphology, roughness and porosity of IPMC were measured, and the interface profile was simulated and predicted based on Weierstrass-Mandelbrot (WM) function, at last, the adhesion force of the interface was calculated. The results show that the coarsening of Nafion and the adsorption of Agthorn ions provide a good catalytic activation site for the nucleation and rapid growth of copper particles. The copper layer on the surface of IPMC is arranged in granular, distributed compactly and uniformly, with the porosity of 52.3% and a strong (111) preferred orientation, which are beneficial to the performance of IPMC. Based on the WM function, the fractal dimension, characteristic scale and characteristic roughness are used to reflect the flatness and complexity of surface profile. The adhesive strength between the substrate and the coating is mainly due to the surface force field caused by the coarsening treatment. The theoretical and simulation studies of the interface characteristics are helpful to understand the internal mass transfer mechanism of IPMC and characterize the complex interface morphology, which also lays a foundation for the later research and application of IPMC. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

In this study, a cheap copper electrode IPMC was prepared by chemical deposition and its surface and cross section morphology, roughness, and porosity were analyzed. The interface profile was simulated using the WM function and the adhesion force of the interface was calculated, showing the positive impact of the copper layer on the performance of IPMC.