Novel infrared radiation properties of cotton fabric coated with nano Zn/ZnO particles

In this paper, we report a study on the infrared radiation properties of pure cotton woven fabric coated with nano Zn/ZnO particles by the method of physical vapor deposition (PVD). The coated film surfaces were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation and energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) analyser. The SEM photos showed that treated pure cotton fibre surface was covered by a layer of small particles of Zn/ZnO with 20–50 nm in size and the thickness of the coating was around 100 nm. The infrared radiation properties of the treated pure cotton woven fabric were evaluated by using a fabric thermal radiation management tester (FRMT). It was found that the coated specimen emitted 82% more infrared (in the spectrum between 6 and 14 μm) than the untreated one. The measured infrared intensities at transmission surface (It) and reflection surface (Ir) of the treated fabrics were 50 and 32% higher than untreated fabrics.