Novel plating solution for electroless deposition of gold film onto glass surface

In this paper, a simple and environmentally friendly electroless plating solution of chloroauric acid (HAuCl₄) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) for depositing gold film onto (3-aminopropyl)-trimethoxysilane (APTMS) -coated glass surface has been developed. APTMS as an adhesive reagent was used to attach the gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) onto the glass substrate. These AuNPs could be regarded as the preferential nucleation or catalytic sites for gold electroless reduction, which accelerated the reduction of Au³⁺ on the glass surface and effectively prevented the formation of gold metal in the bulk solution. During the gold plating process, H₂O₂ as the reducing agent was thermodynamically capable of reducing Au³⁺ ions from the HAuCl₄ precursor to gold atoms, which deposited onto the glass surface and finally formed the continuous gold film. The resulting gold film was characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), respectively.