Surface modification of PET fabric by plasma pre‐treatment for long‐lasting permethrin deposition

Abstract

The mosquito‐transmitted diseases are of serious concern and are affecting several millions of peoples worldwide. Instead of medication afterward the disease initiated, self‐protection against the mosquito's is preferable, specifically in endemic areas. For this purpose, the permethrin coated clothing is a suitable choice to avoid mosquitos' bites. Unfortunately, the permethrin coating on fabrics is not long‐lasting, and its laundering resistance is very low on hydrophobic fabric. In this study, the effect of plasma surface modification of PET fabric on the adhesion of permethrin and its laundering resistance are evaluated. The plasma processing is carried out in nitrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen–oxygen mixture plasma. The samples are analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and chromatography. The results show that the oxygen plasma pre‐treated samples exhibit the higher residual contents of permethrin after 60 wash cycles as compared with other gasses. Without plasma pre‐treatment, the 95% loss, whereas the sample with oxygen plasma pre‐treatment shows that only 22% loss of initial concentration of permethrin occurs after washing. This study shows that plasma pre‐treatment is valuable to improve the absorption of permethrin in PET and its laundering‐resistance. As plasma treatment is a cost‐effective technique, it needs less processing time and eco‐friendly, thus it is a great choice to deposit long‐lasting permethrin coating by plasma pre‐treatment, instead of conventional binding agents. Remarkably, the plasma treatment technique is a well‐established and industrially acceptable technique, thus expected to be of noteworthy importance for insecticide garments manufacturers.