Abstract
An atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ) has a lot of applications in recent years such as in material processing, surface modification, biomedical material processing, and thin film deposition. APPJ has been generated by a high-voltage power supply (0-20 kV) at an operating frequency of 27 kHz. This paper reports the generation and characterization of APPJ in argon environment and its application in the surface modification of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The plasma jet has been characterized by electrical and optical methods. In order to characterize the plasma jet, electron density and electron temperature have been determined. The surface roughness of the untreated and plasma-treated PET samples was characterized by contact angle measurement, surface energy analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).
Highlights
Nonthermal and low-temperature plasma has become a subject of great interest
Treatment of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) using the atmospheric-pressure plasma jet resulted in an improvement in hydrophilicity
It is mainly due to the increase in the polar component of the surface free energy after plasma jet treatment which indicates the formation of polar functional groups on the surface
Summary
Nonthermal and low-temperature plasma has become a subject of great interest. Till different types of low-pressure systems and few atmospheric-pressure systems have been developed. Low-pressure plasma sources have been used for polymer surface treatment, cleaning of substrates, and deposition of thin films. By working under gas conditions, the active species can be blown out of the reactor to form a luminous plasma jet with moderate energy density in the open air, fascinating its applications in material processing, biomedicine, and thin film deposition [3, 4]. One of the important areas of application of atmospheric-pressure plasma is in the surface treatment of polymers to improve their hydrophilicity. This application is motivated due to many advantages over the conventional method of surface treatment [6, 7]. Its low hardness, low scratch resistance, and degradation by UV radiation made surface modification
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
