Silver lining

Oxford Advanced Surfaces (OAS), a UK-based materials company, has developed a 1nm thick, environmentally friendly coating that acts to prevent silver tarnishing.

The effect of atmospheric pollutants on the surface of exposed metals can result in the formation of a number of unwanted compounds causing tarnishing of the surface.

'Tarnishing is not just aesthetically unpleasant - it also degrades the electronic and optical properties of the metal surface, and is therefore a causal factor in the reliability of LEDs, lighting, printed circuit boards (PCBs) and electronic components,' said Mike Edwards, vice-president of sales and marketing at OAS.

Current technologies addressing this problem have many disadvantages or are uneconomical, preventing wide-scale implementation, particularly in electronic applications.

That is not the case with OAS's new Onto coating, which doesn't impede electrical connectivity, is thermally stable up to 250°C and is applied via a simple wet coating approach, offering a solution to a number of problems in the electronics and lighting industries.