Functionalization of Polyester Fabric by Ar/N₂ Plasma and Silver

Abstract

The objective of this research was to use Ar/N2 (50%:50%) plasma to increase the adhesion of nano silver particles to raw polyester fabric. RUCO-BAC AGP was applied using the exhaust method. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed differences in surface composition between the Ar/N2 plasma-treated and untreated raw fabrics. The Ar/N2 plasma treatment was found to increase the surface carbon concentration and decrease the concentration of C-O and O-C=O groups on the surface. After plasma etching, the specific surface of the polyester fabric and properties related to it were found to change significantly. This change was confirmed by a decrease in the whiteness index and an increase in the dyeability of the polyester fabric with disperse dye. Morphological changes in the surface of plasma-treated polyester fabric enabled greater adhesion of nano silver particles and increased the antimicrobial effect with respect to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Streptococcus faecalis.

Modification of polyethylene terephthalate by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in view of improving the polymer wetting properties

“…As a consequence, after the gas breakdown takes place, the charge accumulation on the dielectric surface prevents the corona-to-arc transition. The DBD plasmas have many applications ranging from surface functionalization and grafting [2], improvement of adhesion and hydrophylicity [3], sterilization [4], processing of textile and fabrics [5] and, most recently, the so-called plasma medicine [6]. …”

Multifunctional Textiles – Modification by Plasma, Dyeing and Nanoparticles

“…This adhesion mechanism, which is called mechanical interlocking, has been solved from the perspective of surface roughness effects [21]. Since plasma causes etching of the fibers and leads to an increase of the surface roughness higher adhesion properties towards metal or ceramic particles onto substrates can be achieved [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. The adhesion of TiN (titanium nitride) onto PP (polypropylene) and PC (polycarbonate) was increased after a modification of substrates with argon low-pressure plasma [31].…”

“…Textile materials with an antimicrobial effectiveness are used for medical, military and technical textiles, textiles for sports and leisure and bedding. At nanotechnology researches in textiles, different forms of silver were used, such as metal silver nanoparticles, silver chloride (AgCl) and composite particles of silver and titanium dioxide (Ag-TiO 2 ) [3,24,25,27,[38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. In the case of antimicrobial efficiency, the surface coating of nanosilver on titanium dioxide maximizes the number of particles per unit area in comparison with the use of an equal mass fraction of pure silver [48,49].…”

“…The possibility of loading nanoparticles using exhaustion method started recently [55]. The exhaustion method is the best process for uniform distribution of nanoparticles and is especially appropriate to be used when the simultaneous application of nanoparicles and dye onto fabric is performed, and dyed and antimicrobial effective fabric is achieved at the same time [3,24,25,27]. Depending on the desirable functionality of a functionalized fabric, a treating bath may contain only dye, dye and silver nanoparticles or silver nanoparticles alone.…”

Plasma Induced Hydrophilic Cellulose Wound Dressing

“…The properties of plasma treated materials depend on the processing parameters and are measured using surface sensitive techniques. Numerous authors worldwide addressed modification of cellulose and other suitable materials by gaseous plasma treatment [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”