Hari Prakash. N¹, Mariammal. M¹, Infant Solomon¹, Bornali Sarma¹, Arun Sarma^1,

Water hyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes] fiber has been treated using DC glow discharge plasma to make its surface more hydrophobic in nature for various applications. The plasma treated fibers have been coated with synthesized phase pure ZnO nano-particle at room temperature to enhance both hydrophobicity and Ultra Violet [UV] light protection rate. The behavioral changes of fibers and its characteristics have been studied using XRD, SEM, EDS, a ATR-FTIR and TGA. Surface chemistry of the treated fiber has been altered as depicted by ATR-FTIR studies, while the improve degree of crystallinity analysed by XRD shows the effects of molecular structure of the fibers. The hydrophobic nature of the fibers has been recognized by contact angle measurement using Goniometer and by water absorption processes. Moreover, moisture content of treated fiber has been measured quantitatively using TGA. Finally wavelet analysis has been applied to understand the surface characteristics of water hyacinth fiber and compare its surface roughness value was measured by SEM. Furthermore, entropy of the treated and untreated fibers has also been calculated.

contact angle, hydrophobicity, moisture, plasma treatment, wavelet analysis