Supercritical fluid infusion of silver into polyimide films of varying chemical composition

Abstract

Polyimides can be infused with silver complexes by the use of supercritical fluids. Highly reflective polyimide films were formed by infusing (1,5-cyclooctadiene-1,1,1,5,5,5-hexafluoroacetylacetonato)silver(I) [Ag(COD) (HFA)] into a number of polyimides and then thermally curing those films at 300 °C for time intervals between 30 min and 3 h. Reflectivities of the films exhibited strong dependence on the infusion and cure conditions as well as on the type of polyimide used. The highest reflectivity of 67.1% was achieved with a silvered film prepared from 3,3′,4,4′-benzophenonetetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (BTDA) and oxydianiline (ODA) infused at 5000 psi, 100 °C, for 30 min and cured for 1 h at 300 °C. Reflectivities of silvered surfaces of other polyimides investigated varied from 39% to 61%. A strong correlation between the presence of a ketonic group in the polyimide structure and the formation of mirror surfaces was detected.