Foeskes
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Copper(II) formate mirror
So after watching nurdrage's video, I decided to make some copper formate.
My first test is I put a large crystal inside a test tube and put into a oven for approximately 15 minutes. Some of the copper coated the inside of
the test tube and the rest formed into a weak sponge that crumbled after I touched it.
So today I put some inside a broken pipette with one end sealed and I pulled a weak vacuum using my modified care tire inflator.
After heating with a torch it formed a nice mirror, but I accidentally melted the glass so all the copper is stuck inside the glass. Should I break it
out?
The ruler is to show the reflectivity.
(I had to retype this thread due to wifi issues)
As for the ink, I think maybe you can add some flux and some tin so after heating the tin will fuse the copper together.
    
[Edited on 12-5-2018 by Foeskes]
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yobbo II
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Please do!
Some related copper mirror stuff below:
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=73323#...
from google
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!msg/sci.chem/t65BM8x...
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experimental
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In the past months I've been experimenting with copper plating for plating holes in printed circuit boards.
My original idea was to find alternative reducing agents than formaldehyde.
I've started from an electroless copper plating formula originally intended to used formaldehyde, and tried other compounds with an aldehyde group.
Salts of formic acid don't work, I've tried sodium and ammonium formate.
Ethyl formate almost worked, as it produced a copper precipitate. However, it was in the form of a fine copper sponge that I found in the beaker one
day from when the activated PCB was immersed. No copper was plated onto the PCB, though.
Maybe this can be of interest to someone here on the forum.
Then I found a source of formaldehyde, and now I'm in the process of optimizing the concentration of the reagents to make an electroless copper
plating bath. Here's one of the first attempts, where after one hour I got a good plating (for now I'm plating the surface as it's easier to see if I
get a good plating compared to the hole walls). During the plating I could see tiny hydrogen bubbles forming on the PCB surface.
 
I'll try also the copper formate idea of NurdRage, but the requrement for vacuum or an inert atmosphere don't make it very attractive.
I also found this youtube video while searching for copper plating. Maybe some of you has access to hydrazine and may want to try it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KUl3h5DeiM
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XeonTheMGPony
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Hydrazine is easy
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Foeskes
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Honestly, I think hydrazine is probably worse than formaldehyde, in terms of toxicity.
Have you tried ascorbic acid yet, it seems to be able to get copper stuck on the sides of beakers.
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