Enhancement of Poly(Ethylene Terephtalate) Adsorption Using a Green Process

Imene Belhaj Khalifa, Neji Ladhari

This paper deals to the enhancement of the polyester woven's hydrophilicity using a green process. Firstly, we have functionalized the polyester surface by air atmospheric plasma using a Dielectric Barrier Discharge DBD system. The results of the water contact angle (°) and capillarity (%) demonstrate the improvement of the hydrophilicility of polyethylene terephtalate surface. The durability of hydrophilicity improvement was investigated by grafting Sericin on the plasma treated polyester surface. Besides, the zeta potential measurements and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) analysis were performed to confirm the hydrophilic character imparted to the polyethylene terephtalate surface by the introduction of polar groups after air atmospheric plasma treatment and Sericin grafting. The morphologies of  samples fabrics  were studied by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM).