Investigation of the Possibilities of Wool Fiber Surface Modification with Copper Selenide

Olga Belukhina; Daiva Milasiene; Remigijus Ivanauskas

doi:10.3390/ma14071648

Investigation of the Possibilities of Wool Fiber Surface Modification with Copper Selenide

Materials (Basel). 2021 Mar 27;14(7):1648. doi: 10.3390/ma14071648.

Authors

Olga Belukhina¹, Daiva Milasiene¹, Remigijus Ivanauskas²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Design, Department of Production Engineering, Kaunas University of Technology, 44249 Kaunas, Lithuania.
² Faculty of Chemical Technology, Department of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry, Kaunas University of Technology, 44249 Kaunas, Lithuania.

Abstract

A study of altering the conductive properties of wool fibers by applying copper selenide is presented. The researched modification of wool fibers was based on a two-stage adsorption-diffusion process. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrum, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were performed to evaluate the morphological and physical characteristics of all Cu_xSe-coated wool fibers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) data showed a single, Cu_0.87Se (klockmannite), crystalline phase present, while Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyses showed that the concentrations of Cu and Se in copper selenide coatings depend on the number of wool fiber treatment cycles. It was determined that a dense layer of Cu_xSe grows through a nucleation mechanism followed by particle growth to fill out the complete surface. It was found that the conductivity of the coated wool fibers depends on the quality and density of the copper selenide coating, thus the resistance of electrically impermeable wool fibers can be reduced to 100 Ω by increasing the number of treatment cycles.

Keywords: copper selenide; electrical resistance; surface modification; wool fibers.