Adhesive Wet Metallization on TiO 2 -Coated Glass

In this study, a process for wet metallization on glass substrate involving adhesive electroless plating (ELP) is developed by integrating two material innovations. The first involves functionalizing a polymer-capped Pd nanocluster with amino silane compound to strengthen the adhesion between the ELP metal film and substrate. The second involves an additional nanoscaled TiO 2 layer serving as the adhesion promoting layer (APL) coated on glass before metallization. After investigation with various tools, ELP metal film was observed to penetrate the mesoporous structure of TiO 2 APL, reinforcing the adhesion of metallized film on glass through the mechanical anchoring effect. The formation of an interlayer between TiO 2 APL and glass is not observed. A T-peel strength of 325 N m −1 is achieved. According to fracture analysis, the metal film/TiO 2 /glass structure breaks inside TiO 2 APL, not TiO 2 APL/glass, suggesting that further engineering developments are required to improve TiO 2 APL coating.