Effect of Plasma on the Zeta Potential of Cotton Fabrics

In this work, the effect of a low-temperature plasma on the zeta potential of cotton fabric was studied. The silver particle absorption on cotton fabric when modified by a low-temperature plasma was also investigated. The modification consisted of plasma pre- functionalization followed by a one-step wet treatment with silver nitrate solution. The process was performed in a low-temperature plasma medium, using a magnetron sputtering device. Oxy- gen and nitrogen were used as working gases in the system, and the results were compared. After preparing the samples, the zeta potentials of the untreated and plasma-treated cotton under a constant pH value solution were estimated and compared. Also, Fourier transform infrared spec- troscopy (FTIR) was used to examine the functional groups of the corresponding samples. The amounts of silver absorption on plasma treated and untreated cotton were examined using the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) method. The results show that the amount of zeta potential for the nitrogen plasma treated sample is less and the absorption of silver particles by cotton can be increased strongly with nitrogen plasma treatment.