Regular Article

The plasma footprint of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet on a flat polymer substrate and its relation to surface treatment^*

Research Unit Plasma Technology (RUPT), Department of Applied Physics, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Ghent University, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

^a e-mail: Iuliia.Onyshchenko@UGent.be

Received: 19 November 2015
Revised: 26 February 2016
Accepted: 9 May 2016
Published online: 8 August 2016

Abstract

The aim of this work is to show the correlation between the plasma propagation in the footprint of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet on a flat polymer surface and the plasma treatment impact on the polymer properties. An argon plasma jet working in open air is used as plasma source, while PET thin films are used a substrates for plasma treatment. Light emission photographs are taken with an ICCD camera to have a close look at the generated structures in the plasma jet footprint on the surface. Water contact angle (WCA) measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis are also performed to obtain information about the impact of the plasma treatment on the PET surface characteristics. A variation in ICCD camera gate duration (1 µs, 100 µs, 50 ms) results in the photographs of the different plasma structures occurring during the plasma propagation on the flat PET surface. Contact angle measurements provide results on improvement of the PET hydrophilic character, while XPS analysis shows the distribution of atomic elements on the treated substrate surface. Light emission images help explaining the obtained WCA and XPS results.