Superhydrophobic Polyester/Cotton Fabrics Modified by Barrier Discharge Plasma and Organosilanes |
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| Authors: | Igor Novák Marian Valentin Zdeno Špitalský Anton Popelka Jozef Sestak |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Polymer Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia;2. Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar;3. VUTCH-CHEMITEX, Zilina, Slovakia |
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| Abstract: | In this paper, diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure has been used for surface modification of polyester/cotton (PESc) fabric, which was subsequently modified by sol–gel process using suitable organofunctional silanes to enhance its hydrophobicity. Modified PESc fabric surfaces were conditioned during the gelling process to obtain the permanent hydrophobicity. The contact angle of water before washing of plasma and sol–gel pretreated PESc fabric was found to be 154° and 151° after standardized washings. It was also demonstrated that the process is applicable at the industrial scale. |
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| Keywords: | Cotton fabric hydrophobicity plasma treatment polyester silanes sol–gel |
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