ABSTRACT

Electroless plating is one of the most used methods to metallize plastics and nonconductors in general. This plating technique is a unique approach to obtain perfectly homogeneous and uniform metal deposit on a catalytic surface, even if it has complex and intricate shape . Although the mechanism is purely catalytic, activation step for nonconductors is a crucial stage before plating1. Also, it features several economical advantages like the absence of an external current source. In spite of all these advantages, electroless plating is still suffering from several practical problems such a s 2: • Self contamination of the plating baths due to the products of the redox reaction (phosphite

ions,...) and ligands from the metal salts used for replenishment. • Limited solution life • Ecological disadvantages ( wastes treatments) • Too many surface conditioning steps • The plating of large dimensions' parts requires the use of enormous baths and large quantities

of reactants, which is neither easy nor economical.