Plasma is a unique technology to deposit ultra-thin coatings on all exposed surfaces of a material or product. It is increasingly used in the manufacture of advanced filtration media to achieve hydrophilic, hydrophobic, oleophobic, or dielectric properties.

Improvements in process and machine design enable the deposition of these coatings in a highly cost-effective, fully dry, and clean manner. The technology provides a clear competitive advantage to an increasing number of producers of technical nonwovens, membranes, mesh, nanofibers, or films.

The paper will start with a short introduction to plasma technology. It will then review industrial concepts for both batch and roll-to-roll processing. It will also compare industrial equipment for atmospheric and low-pressure plasma deposition.

The paper will discuss challenges in liquid-repellent coatings, more specifically, the market need for halogen-free solutions. Several approaches will be presented to induce surface roughness and combine it with halogen-free plasma coatings to achieve a hydrophobic, even oleophobic effect. Case studies of these halogen-free strategies and materials will be discussed. The paper will conclude with an overview of the societal and environmental benefits of plasma technology.