HYDROPHILIZATION OF PET USING DBD PLASMA

摘要

Polyester is a most common material used in modern engineering. 0.4% moisture regain makes it highly hydrophobic, which is favorable for water harvesting. Our work utilizes a parallel-plate nonthermal plasma dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) system worked at medium pressure in dry air and nitrogen gas to change the surface characterization of non-woven polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric. The surface modification of PET fabric was determined by water contact angle (WCA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and wettability analysis. WCA, XPS and wettability results showed that DBD plasma treatment on PET fabric improved the hydrophilicity. A reduction in contact angle more within 5 minutes for air and nitrogen discharges was noticed as compared to untreated sample. XPS measurements revealed an increase in the presence of polar functional groups, indicating that the induced surface changes are mostly chemical in nature. The XPS analysis is good agreement with WCA. In terms of oxygen plasma treatment, changes were seen in XPS spectra of the peak C 1s, whereas the changes with nitrogen-plasma treatment were less pronounced. Water adsorption time was observed much fast for air and nitrogen treatment respectively as compared to untreated fabric when the fabrics were immersed into water immediately after plasma exposure.