The Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) has developed a cyanide-free silver plating technology that produces coatings roughly 23% harder than conventional silver plating and with a coefficient of friction below 0.2, the Changwon-based research institute said on July 14, opening the door to more durable electrical contacts for electric vehicles and consumer electronics.
A stubborn trade-off, solved
Silver has long been the metal of choice for electrical contacts thanks to its conductivity, but the metal is soft and wears quickly under repeated insertion and switching. The KIMS team, led by senior researcher Seil Kim in the Energy & Environmental Materials Research Division, cracked a long-standing materials-science trade-off: how to increase hardness without giving up low friction.
Their answer is an Ag-PTFE composite plating in which PTFE (Teflon) nanoparticles are stably dispersed in a cyanide-free acidic silver bath using a fluorinated surfactant called FC-4. Molecular-dynamics simulations and bench experiments confirmed that FC-4 suppresses PTFE agglomeration, so the particles co-deposit uniformly with silver ions instead of clumping on the electrode.
What the numbers say
The resulting composite delivered about 23% higher hardness than conventional pure-silver plating, a coefficient of friction under 0.2 and materially improved wear resistance in KIMS's tests. "This technology is expected to enable high-performance silver coatings that offer significantly improved durability under repeated-contact conditions while eliminating the need for highly toxic cyanide," Kim said.
Cutting cyanide from the plating bath is also a workplace-safety and environmental win, easing wastewater treatment and permitting requirements for Korea's plating industry. The findings appeared June 8 in Surface and Coatings Technology, and KIMS has filed a related patent.
Where it plugs in
KIMS is now pushing to validate the technology in real EV connectors and electrical contacts, and to scale the process for large-area substrates. The team is targeting connectors, relays, switches, lead frames and electronic terminals — the small-but-critical parts inside every EV, industrial drive and semiconductor-manufacturing tool. With the global electroplating market projected to reach roughly USD 27.2 billion by 2032, that is a big pond to fish in.
The research follows other 2026 KIMS work on battery components and forms part of a wider Korean industrial push into high-reliability EV materials backed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Reporting based on coverage from Newswise, KIMS and the journal Surface and Coatings Technology.