TITLE:
Electroless Plating of Palladium Membranes on Porous Substrates for Hydrogen Separation and the Effects of Process Factors on Plating Rate and Efficiency: A Review
AUTHORS:
Abubakar Alkali
KEYWORDS:
Electroless Plating, Hydrogen, Palladium Membranes, Plating Efficiency, Process Factors
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.8 No.2,
February
18,
2020
ABSTRACT: The electroless plating of
palladium and palladium alloy membranes is fast becoming an important and
enabling technology. This is more so when juxtaposed with the rising demand for
high purity hydrogen for applications particularly in proton exchange membrane
fuel cells (PEMFC). The effect of process factors such as sensitization and
activation during surface modification, concentration of the reducing agent,
plating temperature, time, pH, additives, air aeration on plating efficiency,
quality of the palladium film and deposit morphology is reviewed with the aim
of identifying areas requiring further investigation. The paper also reviews
how these process factors could be optimised for better plating efficiency and
overall membrane quality. The concentration of the reducing agent has been
identified as the limiting factor on plating efficiency albeit other process
factors separately impact on the plating efficiency. Furthermore, bulk
precipitation caused by concentration of the reducing agent has been identified
as a major problem during electroless plating with hydrazine based plating
baths. To ameliorate this problem, a multi step addition of the hydrazine
reducer in separate portions has been recommended.