Surface functionalization of silk fabric by PTFE sputter coating

This paper describes the surface functionalization of woven silk fabric by magnetron sputter coating of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). The PTFE sputter coating was applied to improve the hydrophobic property of silk fabric. The effects of PTFE sputter coating on surface morphology and surface chemical properties were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ATR-FTIR (attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy). The wettability of the fabric was characterized through measuring the surface contact angle by a dynamic sessile analysis (DSA) technique. The contact angle of the PTFE coated fabric showed a significant increase from 68° to about 138°. The experimental results also revealed that larger sputtering pressures brought less contact angle hysteresis.