Electroless silver coating on glass stitched fabrics for electromagnetic shielding applications

In this study silver nanoparticles were deposited by electroless coating onto glass-stitched fabrics via the Tollens' reaction for technical textile applications. The effect of fabric compactness and the amount of silver nitrate solution on conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) were studied. The results showed that a compact fabric surface promoted the EMI SE and that a critical threshold of surface conductivity of 0.3 S.cm^–1 was required to obtain an EMI SE above 50 dB in the frequency range 300 MHz−1.5 GHz. Using SEM analysis we found that conductivity values were compatible with the coating thickness of samples. FT–IR analysis revealed that the presence of Ag particles caused the aliphatic C–H stretching frequencies (2858 and 2927 cm^–1) to become shifted to higher values (2901 cm^–1, and 2988 and 2972 cm^–1, respectively).