Preparation of reflective and electrically conductive surface-silvered polyimide films from silver(I) complex and PMDA/ODA via an in situ single-stage technique

Optically reflective and/or electrically conductive surface-silvered polyimide films have been prepared by thermal curing of the (1,1,1-trifluoro-2,4-pentadionato) silver(I) (AgTFA)-containing poly(amic acid) derived from pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and 4,4′-oxydianiline (4,4′-ODA) in dimethylacetamide. Films with specular reflectivity of 20–40% and surface electrical resistivity less than 7 Ω/sq were obtained. Two different thermal curing cycles were applied for the imidization and silver reduction process, and film conductivity were only obtained under rapid thermal treatment. The metallized films exhibit mechanical properties close to that of the parent polyimide films. Films were characterized by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and mechanical measurements.