Vol. 15 | No. 2 |1154-1159| April - June | 2022 ISSN: 0974-1496 | e-ISSN: 0976-0083 | CODEN: RJCABP http://www.rasayanjournal.com http://www.rasayanjournal.co.in Rasayan J. Chem., 15(2), 1154-1159(2022) http://doi.org/10.31788/RJC.2022.1526837 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license. INVESTIGATION OF ENHANCING THE PERFORMANCE AND DEPOSITION CHARACTERISTICS OF COPPER (II) METHANE SULPHONATE SALT COMPLEXED WITH D- MANNITOL BATH S. Jothilakshmi 1 , S. Rekha 2,  , A. Alvin Kalicharan 3 and R. Ranjani 4 1 Department of Chemistry, RMK College of Engineering and Technology, Puduvoyal-601206, (TamilNadu) India 2 Department of Chemistry, RMD Engineering College, Kavaraipettai-601206, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Department of Chemistry, Panimalar Engineering College, Chennai-600123, Tamil Nadu, India 4 Department of Physics, RMD Engineering College, Kavaraipettai-601206, Tamil Nadu, India  Corresponding Author: rekhaperichiappan@gmail.com ABSTRACT The performance of the eco-friendly D-Mannitol electroless copper plating bath with additives has been investigated. D-Mannitol produces a lower plating rate which has been improved using exaltants viz., polyethylene glycol 600, oxalic acid and malonic acid. The performance of the bath shows improvement gravimetrically and by polarization studies. The surface morphology studies are also interpreted. Keywords: Eco-friendly, D-Mannitol, Additives, Copper plating, Impedance, Tafel polarization. RASĀYAN J. Chem., Vol.15, No.2, 2022 INTRODUCTION In 1946, the origin of electroless plating was invented by Brenner and Riddell 1 with electroless nickel plating. In the immediate future in 1950 electroless copper was identified to develop solutions for plating plated through-hole (PTH) and printed wiring boards (PWB). In recent years electroless plating is carried out on fabrics for electromagnetic interference shielding 2 and the metals like silver, copper 3 posses the antibacterial, antiseptic and antiviral properties. The electroless copper plating baths developed earlier was subjected to spontaneous decomposition. Continual advancement has taken place in the controlling factors and continued to be confirmed in a wide range of studies. 4,5 Extensive research has been carried out employing complexing agents like EDTA 6 (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), sodium tartrate 7 , glycerine 8 , Triethanolamine 9 , and ammonia. 10 EDTA is an exceptional chelating agent which forms a metal-EDTA complex at a higher pH range and prevents Cu(OH)2 precipitation. 6,11 Even though EDTA complexes well, it forms a stable heavy metal complex that accumulates in the environment being non-biodegradable and also enhances the nitrogen content totally in the wastewater. 12,13 To overcome the above drawbacks saturated polyhydric alcohols which are easily biodegradable and eco-friendly were tried as an alternative. Saturated polyhydric alcohols 14-16 form a very stable complex with Cu(II) ions which in turn prevent the precipitation of Cu(OH)2 at pH greater than 12. In the development of eco-friendly baths, copper methane sulphonate salt has been found to be a better choice of salt for electroless copper deposition. 17 Additives are excellent surface-active compounds that produce a variety of effects for the metallization process. 18 Additives can be classified as stabilizers or accelerators. Stabilizers improve the bath stability while accelerators enhance the deposition rate. The present investigation focuses to study the effect of D-Mannitol as a complexing agent and accelerators like polyethylene glycol 600 (PEG600), oxalic acid, and malonic acid on an electroless copper deposition by weight gain method and polarization technique. The deposit’s surface morphology was well understood by XRD and SEM analysis.