Antimicrobial brass coatings prepared on poly(ethylene terephthalate) textile by high power impulse magnetron sputtering

• Prepare antimicrobial, corrosion-resistant and low-cost Cu65Zn35 brass film on PET fabric by HIPIMS
• Brass-coated fabric with excellent durability, even undergone rubbing and washing tests
• Brass-coated fabric provides effective antimicrobial properties for E. coli and S. aureus.
• After brass coating, PET fabric still retained its mechanical property.

The goal of this work is to prepare antimicrobial, corrosion-resistant and low-cost Cu65Zn35 brass film on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabric by high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS), which is known to provide high-density plasma, so as to generate a strongly adherent film at a reduced substrate temperature.The results reveal that the brass film grows in a layer-plus-island mode. Independent of their deposition time, the obtained films retain a Cu/Zn elemental composition ratio of 1.86 and exhibit primarily an α copper phase structure. Oxygen plasma pre-treatment for 1 min before coating can significantly increase film adhesion such that the brass-coated fabric of Grade 5 or Grade 4–5 can ultimately be obtained under dry and wet rubbing tests, respectively. However, a deposition time of 1 min suffices to provide effective antimicrobial properties for both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. As a whole, the feasibility of using such advanced HIPIMS coating technique to develop durable antimicrobial textile was demonstrated.

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