Catalytic activation of activated carbon fibers via palladium aerosol nanoparticles for use in electroless silver deposition

A method of catalytic activation with palladium aerosol nanoparticles produced by spark generation was introduced. These catalytic particles were deposited onto the surfaces of activated carbon fibers (ACFs). After thermal curing, the catalytically activated ACFs were placed into a solution for electroless deposition (ELD) of silver. Homogeneous silver coatings on ACFs were achieved under various activation intensities and ELD times, and the results were compared to those obtained with a conventional "two-step" activation. Morphological, chemical, and textural properties of both catalytically activated ACFs and electroless silver deposited ACFs were characterized. When the activation intensity increased from 0.23 to 4.25 mg/g (palladium/ACFs) for an ELD time of 10 min, our aerosol activation increased the silver deposition from 7.1 to 13.2 mg/g (silver/ACFs) and the average size of the silver particles from 4.9 to 38.8 nm. However, the surface area and pore volume of the ACFs decreased from 1382 to 1286 m²/g and from 0.77 to 0.67 cm³/g, respectively.