Improved surface characteristics and the conductivity of polyaniline-nylon6 fabrics by plasma treatment

The effect of plasma treatment on the surface characteristics and conductiv ity of polyaniline-nylon 6 composite fabrics was investigated. Plasma surfa ce modifications with oxygen, ammonia, and argon were performed on the nylo n 6 fabrics to improve the adhesion and rate of polymerization. The surface morphology of the fiber was observed with scanning electron microscopy, an d functional groups introduced onto the surface of nylon 6 fibers by variou s plasma treatments were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. With oxygen plasma treatment, the fiber surface was effectively etched; po lar groups such as -OH and -OOH were introduced onto the surface of nylon 6 fiber, and they increased surface activity, promoted oxidation polymerizat ion, and resulted in higher add-on and electrical conductivity. However, th e introduced amine and amide groups with ammonia treatment caused a reducti on in conductivity. Argon did not significantly alter the surface character istics of the nylon 6 fibers. In addition, to control fabric conductivity a nd cover as wide a range of conductivity as possible, we observed the effec ts of the monomer concentration and number of deposits on the fabric conduc tivity. The results showed that fabric conductivity in creased as the monom er concentration increased up to 0.5M and then leveled off, and further inc reases were achieved with an increase in the number of multiple deposits. ( C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.