Influence of the structure of polymer fiber composites on the analysis of the zeta potential

This article addresses the questions about the influence of surface area, roughness, and sample mounting on the zeta potential analysis. A series of knitted yarns and fabrics of cotton and modacryl and their blends represent a real-life model system to study these effects. The combination of the natural cotton and the man-made modacryl makes possible to study the effect of the different origin for surface and interfacial charge and the surface area-weighted contributions to the average zeta potential of a chemically heterogeneous composite material. In our study, two measuring cells of the SurPASS electrokinetic analyzer were used, namely the Cylindrical Cell and the Adjustable Gap Cell. Comparison of the results obtained in two different measuring cells was related to the measured material. We used the Cylindrical Cell for both the zeta potential analysis of yarn and knitted fabrics and compared these results with data obtained for knitted fabrics using the Adjustable Gap Cell.