Surface analysis of cotton fabrics fluorinated in radio‐frequency plasma

Abstract

Cotton fabrics were treated by radio-frequency plasma with tetrafluoromethane (CF 4 ) and hexafluoropropene (C 3 F 6 ) gases under different exposure times, pressures, and power levels. The hydrophobicity and water repellency were analyzed with measurements of the cosine of the contact angle (cos ) and wet-out time. The hydrophobicity was enhanced with treatments of both gases. Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed increases in the surface fluorine content of 1-2% for CF 4 plasma and of 2.3-7.8% for C 3 F 6 plasma. The relative chemical composition of the C 1s spectra after CF 4 and C 3 F 6 plasma treatments showed increases in the relative amounts of OCOOOCO and fluorocarbon groups (OCF, OCF 2 , and OCF 3 ), whereas peak areas for OCOH and OCOOH decreased. The hydrophobicity was enhanced by the increase in the fluorine content and fluorocarbon groups. C 3 F 6 plasma treatment resulted in higher hydrophobicity than CF 4 plasma treatment according to not only cos and wet-out measurements but also XPS analysis.

Multifunctional Textiles – Modification by Plasma, Dyeing and Nanoparticles

“…It is interesting, however, that no fluorine was observed in the XPS spectra, but that the additional ISE analysis indicated the presence of <5 ppm of total fluoride on CF 4 plasma-treated samples. Here, it is worth mentioning that we are not the first group to observe little or no fluorine on organic materials treated with CF 4 plasma [76,77]. Although XPS analysis did not show specific chemical surface differences between untreated and CF 4 plasma-treated cotton samples, the SEM analysis showed strongly modified surface morphology of plasma-treated cotton (Figure 8), while smaller changes of the surface morphology of cotton samples treated with atmospheric air corona plasma and water vapor low-pressure plasma are noticed.…”

Laundry Detergents, 1. Introduction

“…pH-activity profiles for amylase [65] water adsorption. This treatment generates more hydrophobic surfaces [71].…”

“…For example, nanosized whiskers aligned by proprietary spines, designed to repel hydrophobic or hydrophilic liquids, can be attached to the fabrics during production [69]. Another example of soil repellency through pretreatment is the use of plasma technology to modify or to apply a thin polymer layer to the cotton surface [70,71]. By using radio-frequency plasma, chemicals such as fluorocarbons can be activated and polymerized on the surface of the textile.…”

Development of nano-structured icephobic surfaces based on plasma polymerization /

“…A vast number of publications have investigated types of fluorocarbon precursors with different chain lengths, saturated and unsaturated, linear and cyclic structures, all factor that can affect the water repellency of a coating [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74].…”