Abstract
A uniform Si-O coating on cotton fabric was produced at atmospheric pressure by a plasma treatment. Before the plasma discharge, a pretreatment with hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO)-ethanol mixture solvents on the fabric was employed. The surface morphology and chemical structure of the plasma-treated fibers were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The SEM results showed that a uniform, continuous film was formed on the cotton fiber surface. It was much rougher than the uncoated fiber. The FTIR results showed that the coatings contained most of the Si-O functional groups. These Si-O bonds, broken from the Si-O-Si functional groups by the plasma electron impact, had connected with the cellulose by chemical bonds of Si-O-Cellulose. XRD patterns revealed the existence of a crystalline structure within the thin coating film. The UV-vis transmission of the cotton textile was greatly reduced by such coatings.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by the Key Laboratory Program of the Educational Department of Liaoning Province under Grant no. LS2010014.