An impeller for a rotary machine includes: a base material of the impeller comprising Al or an Al alloy; a surface layer for the impeller formed by an electroless plating layer comprising a Ni—P based alloy; and an under layer disposed between the base material and the surface layer, the under layer having a smaller Vickers hardness than the surface layer.

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) enhancement agent includes a plurality of particles, each particle including: a metal core; a dielectric shell disposed on the metal core comprising at least one MRI contrast agent; and a metal shell disposed on the exterior surface of the dielectric shell that encapsulates the dielectric shell.

A bathless plating for a conductive material with composite particles or with high surface coverage. The setup for the bathless electro-plating includes a cathode, a composite mixture, a membrane, and an anode. The cathode is a conductive material. The composite mixture comprises a metal salt, an acid, and a composite material. The composite mixture is applied to the cathode. A hydrophilic membrane is applied to the composite mixture. An anode, with oxidizing properties, is applied to the membrane. A current is applied to the bathless setup. Upon removing the current and composite mixture from the cathode, a metal-based composite coating remains on the cathode.

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) enhancement agent includes a plurality of particles, each particle including: a metal core; a dielectric shell disposed on the metal core comprising at least one MRI contrast agent; and a metal shell disposed on the exterior surface of the dielectric shell that encapsulates the dielectric shell.

Provided is a plating lamination technology for providing a highly adhesive inner layer of a printed circuit board. The plating lamination technology is effective in providing an electroless plated laminate, including a non-etched/low-roughness pretreated laminate or a low-roughness copper foil, and a printed circuit board including the plated laminate.

Methods of treating metal nanocrystals are provided. In embodiments, such a method comprises exposing metal nanocrystals comprising a metal and characterized by at least one twinning boundary therein, to a plating solution comprising a reducing agent and coating metal cations comprising a different metal, under conditions to form a coating of the different metal on surfaces of the metal nanocrystals via electroless deposition by chemical reduction of the coating metal cations, thereby providing coated metal nanocrystals. Methods of forming bulk nanostructured metal alloys from the coated metal nanocrystals are also provided.

A coating agent for forming an oxide film; a method for producing an oxide film; and a method for producing a metal-plated structure, where the stability of the coating agent can be enhanced, and an oxide film which can be plated and has high adhesion to a substrate can be easily formed. The coating agent for forming an oxide film is a liquid coating agent, essentially contains titanium atoms, and optionally contains silicon atoms and copper atoms, wherein the ratio of the sum of the titanium atoms and copper atoms to the silicon atoms is 1:0-3:2. The method for producing an oxide film includes applying the coating agent to a substrate and heating to form an oxide film. The method for producing a metal-plated structure includes: a metal-film-forming step for forming a metal film on the oxide film; and a baking step for baking the metal film.

The present invention relates to aqueous plating bath compositions and methods for deposition of nickel and nickel alloys utilizing mixtures of stabilizing agents comprising ions of group IIIA metals and iodine containing, inorganic compounds in order to enhance bath stability.

The present invention relates to an aqueous plating bath composition and a method for depositing a palladium layer by electroless plating onto a substrate. The aqueous plating bath composition according to the present invention comprises a source for palladium ions, a reducing agent for palladium ions and an aldehyde compound. The aqueous plating bath composition has an increased deposition rate for palladium while maintaining bath stability. The aqueous plating bath composition has also a prolonged life time. The aldehyde compounds of the present invention allow for adjusting the deposition rate to a constant range over the bath life time and for electrolessly depositing palladium layers at lower temperatures. The aldehyde compounds of the present invention activate electroless palladium plating baths having a low deposition rate and reactivate aged electroless palladium plating baths.

The present invention discloses a bionic SERS substrate of a metal-based compound eye bowl structure, a construction method and application. The bionic SERS substrate of the metal-based compound eye bowl structure of the present invention consists of a metal bowl and a cone-shaped structure substrate in an ordered hierarchy manner. The metal bowl is of a continuously and closely arranged single-layer bowl structure. A height of the metal bowl is 0.01-10 μm, and a bowl opening diameter is 0.01-10 μm. A cone is a micron pyramid cone, and a height of the micron pyramid cone is 1-100 μm. The present invention assembles the metal bowl on a surface of the substrate of the micron pyramid cone structure with great fluctuation by a solid-liquid interface chemical reduction method and a small ball template method, and further constructs a 3D SERS substrate with a bionic compound eye structure.