Fast formation of hydrophobic coating on wood surface via an energy-saving dielectric barrier discharges plasma

Abstract

The outdoor applications of wooden materials are greatly limited owing to their water sensitivity. In this study, an energy-saving dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) plasma system was applied to the wood surface as a fast method for the formation of a hydrophobic coating. The effects of the parameters of DBD plasma modification (processing time, discharge power, wood species, and feeding gas) on hydrophobicity were investigated using various characterization techniques (attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and optical contact angle measurement (OCA)). The optimum parameters of DBD plasma modification (processing time of 75 s, discharge power of 60 W, poplar wood as the wood species, and feeding gas of HMDSO) were determined to achieve the highest hydrophobicity. DBD plasma modification also demonstrates its general applicability on different wood species, showing the effective introduction of a silicon-containing hydrophobic coating onto the surface of poplar, larch, and oak wood, respectively.