Silver coating on woven PET surface modified by using DBD plasma technique for antimicrobial property improvement

Abstract

In this study, the hydrophilic improvement of a woven PET surface was accomplished by a plasma technique. The woven PET surface was plasma-treated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) under various operating parameters (gap distance and applied voltage) and various gases (O2,N2, Ar, and air) in order to improve the hydrophilicity of the woven PET surface. It was experimentally found that a decrease in gap distance and an increase in applied voltage increased the electric field strength, leading to more hydrophilicity of the PET surface characterized by wickability measurement. XPS analysis was carried out to identify functional groups on the polymer surface, such as O=C-O and C-O. The amount of such functional groups depended on the type of gas fed into the system. The air gas provided the largest amount of functional groups, while O2, Ar, and N2 provided less amounts, in that order, which agreed well with the wickability results. After the plasma treatment, the woven PET fabric was coated with silver using a silver nitrate solution in order to introduce the antimicrobial property. The woven PET fabric coated with silver particles exhibited good antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus.