Efficacy of Palladium Solution Concentration on Electroless Fabrication of Dense Metal Ceramic Composite Membranes Coupled with Surfactant and Sonication

Abstract

This article addresses the effect of varying palladium solution concentration (0.005–0.015 mol/L) on the cost-effective fabrication of dense palladium composite membranes. Laboratory fabricated clay (kaolin) based ceramic disc were used as substrate along with a modified electroless plating technique consisting of a coupled effect of ultrasound and surfactant. Further to increase the efficacy of the process controlled addition of reducing agent was opted for all baths. It was analyzed that the optimal concentration that provided higher plating efficiencies (95.9%), higher transport efficiency (41.3%), higher plating rates (1.5 × 10⁻⁴ mol/m² · s), minimal total plating time (10.5 h), and maximum pore densification (99.7%) corresponds to 0.01 mol/L.

Keywords:

• Ceramic
• Electroless plating
• Membrane
• Sonication
• Surfactant