Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Hydrazine Sulfate As A reducing Agent For Electroless Plating

jpsmith123 - 27-8-2005 at 14:06

Does anyone know if hydrazine sulfate can replace the sodium hypophosphite or borohydride used as a reducing agent in electroless plating? Apparently its use in this manner is mentioned in some patents, but there's not a lot of practical information on it.

Regards,
Joe

unionised - 29-8-2005 at 06:57

well, this site
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:pMhyPEJzZr8J:boyles.sdsmt.edu/cumirror/cumirr.ppt+%22copper+mirror%22+hydrazine&hl=en
says you can plate copper using hydrazine as a reductant.

jpsmith123 - 29-8-2005 at 17:33

Thanks for the interesting link.

Based on the little tidbits of information I've seen, it seems that hydrazine sulfate may also work.

Just in case it doesn't, though, I wonder what would be the best way to get a dilute aqueous hydrazine solution from the sulfate?

Regards,
Joe

neutrino - 29-8-2005 at 17:43

Add a strong base, e.g. NaOH.

unionised - 30-8-2005 at 02:38

BTW, you do know that hydrazine is volatile and a suspect carcinogen, don't you?

jpsmith123 - 31-8-2005 at 02:13

In water or alcohol or some other solvent? What's the rest of the process?
The devil's in the details...what are they?
Quote:
Originally posted by neutrino
Add a strong base, e.g. NaOH.

neutrino - 31-8-2005 at 03:43

Something like this should happen:

N<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> + 2 NaOH -> N<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub>(OH)<sub>2</sub> + Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>

N<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub>(OH)<sub>2</sub> -> N<sub>2</sub>H<sub>4</sub> + 2 H<sub>2</sub>O

The spectator ions should be ignorable, although you know more about plating than I do. If they do pose a problem, see Rosco's posts in the hydrazine thread.

ScienceSquirrel - 15-11-2011 at 05:14

Quote: Originally posted by unionised  
BTW, you do know that hydrazine is volatile and a suspect carcinogen, don't you?


Cold dilute aqueous solutions of hydrazine should be relatively harmless though.
If he is making up the plating solution, doing the plating and then disposing of the solution safely he should be OK.


[Edited on 15-11-2011 by ScienceSquirrel]

Jor - 15-11-2011 at 08:42

I've done it by dissolving copper(II) acetate in water, add ammonia until all initially formed Cu(OH)2 dissolves, add hydrazine hydrate and heat on a water bath.

http://amateurchemie.nl/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=404

cyanureeves - 15-11-2011 at 18:03

Jor does your method plate regular carbon steel ?or is this just for silver mirror type plating?

[Edited on 16-11-2011 by cyanureeves]

Jor - 16-11-2011 at 03:21

I don't know. You should try it.

Random - 16-11-2011 at 06:00

is there some alternative to hydrazine here?

Random - 16-11-2011 at 06:00

is there some alternative to hydrazine here?

j_sum1 - 15-12-2015 at 04:49

I was thinking about creating a copper mirror. I have spotted a youtube video showing a method using hydrazine -- which is essentially the same as the method above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkFOzFNODUE

However, I do not have access to hydrazine and synthesising it will be a new step for me. I could go there but wondered if alternatives to the hydrazine exist.

JJay - 15-12-2015 at 06:30

Hydrazine is rather nasty - carcinogenic, explosive, low-boiling, and poisonous; I don't think playing with it in an amateur lab is a good idea.