A New Approach toward Ultraviolet/O3-Assisted Nano-etching of Ingeo™ Surface

Nano-etching of materials offers the possibility of driving significant surface properties such as wettability and anti-reflectivity. Remarkably, plasma and laser processes can lead to favorite nano-features through a one-step procedure based on etching. The literature will be reviewed regarding such micro- and nano-etching for different materials, such as natural and synthetic polymers, and various methods such as argon plasma. In this work, the nano-etched surface of the novel synthetic fibers (Ingeo™) was obtained by using Ultraviolet/O3 irradiation for 80 minutes on the mats which were pre-impregnated in a distilled water solution with a wet pick-up of 70 %, pressure of 1.1 bar, and speed of 2 m/min (Ultraviolet/O3/H2O system). Ingeo™ is the world’s first and only human-made fiber produced from 100% annually renewable resources such as corn, not oil. After the Ultraviolet/O3/H2O procedure, a textured layer containing fractures with nanoscale sizes are created on the Ingeo™ fiber surface owing to the ion bombardment in the radiation space. The nano-etching process results in increasing the surface roughing which is responsible for the growth in the specific surface area. This procedure can improve wetting properties; thus, after the Ultraviolet/O3/H2O nano-etching of Ingeo™ surface, the moisture-regain of fibers increases from 0.417 to 0.452%.