Hydrophobization of paper intented for packaging

The proposed manuscript deals with packaging surface paper treatment with plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique. To do this, paper samples were held on a grounded substrate to be in contact with methane (CH₄) plasma created by the upper cathode to grow hydrogenated carbon films (a−C : H) on top surface of paper. The treatment duration was maintained for 5, 10, 15 and 20 min while pressure and power have been kept constant at 8 × 10^-2 and 100 W, respectively. After deposition the surface sample has undergone structural and morphological characterization by Scanning Electron Microscopy (Sem), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (Ftir) is performed to reveal the bonding structure. The surface wettability of the treated samples was evaluated by contact angle (C A) measurement. The results of C A show the change of surface paper from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and even super hydrophobic with a maximum contact angle equal 156°. (author)