A review of electroless coatings on non-metals: Bath conditions, properties and applications

The electroless coatings on the non-metal surface possess the desired properties for various applications in the aerospace, marine, medical, automotive, textile, electronics, household and food industries. Many researchers have developed the coating on non-conducting materials for many applications, and it has established its potential since its invention. This review started with fundamentals and their historical backgrounds. The work carried out on polymer, glass and ceramics is crtically reviewed. The optimized bath conditions developed for coating on the various non-metal substrates are populated for reference to future research works. The various properties of the developed coating, such as tribological, mechanical, electrical, and thermal, are addressed in line with their applications. The most recent applications of electroless coating on non-metals are reviewed. Finally, the future application of the electroless coating in emerging technologies is also discussed.