Surface-silvered polyimide films prepared by plasma-induced grafting of viologen and electroless plating

A vinyl-containing viologen, 1,1ʹ-bis(4-vinylbenzyl)-4,4ʹ-bipyridinium dinitrate (VBVN), was synthesized and subsequently graft-copolymerized on argon plasma-pretreated polyimide (PI) films. Silver nanoparticles can be deposited on the surface of the PI grafted with VBVN film through photo-induced reduction of the silver ions in salt solution. The surface compositions of the modified PI films were studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The topography of the electroless deposited PI films was characterized by SEM and AFM. The results show that the silver nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on the surface of PI films, and the size and distribution of the nanoparticles can be varied by changing the UV irradiation time.