STUDIES ON THE PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF CONDUCTIVE POLYMERS .3. METALLIZED POLYMER-FILMS BY RETROPLATING OUT

A novel method to prepare polymer metallized films was found by using polymer metal chelate films treated with wetted metal plates (or metal powders). The polymer metal chelate films were prepared by metal salts mixed with the polymers containing a functional group, such as poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), polyamide, polyacrylamide (PAAm), and polyurethane (PU). This novel method is called the retroplating-out method. Polymer metallized films exhibited low surface resistivity around 10(-1) OMEGA/cm2 by using this novel method. The surfaces of these films were shown to be metallized by means of X-ray analysis. The conduction mechanism was verified reasonably well by using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV-visible absorption data.