AbstractThis article presents green in situ synthesis of ZnO directly on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabrics using pomegranate peel extract. The surface of PET was activated by environmentally friendly oxygen plasma, and the process was compared to alkali treatment where the extract of wood ash was used instead of classical chemicals. Sorption analysis showed that the hydrophilic character of the plasma-treated sample was much better than that of the alkali-treated and untreated samples. Both treatments slightly decreased the breaking strength and elongation of the fabric. Scanning electron microscopy, colour measurements, dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and antioxidant activity investigations showed that the ZnO particles were successfully synthesised on alkali- and plasma-treated PET. The liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry results showed that ellagic acid and punicalagin were the most abundant compounds in the pomegranate peel extract that enabled the synthesis of ZnO. The UV protection, amount of ZnO, and uniformity were the highest for the ZnO prepared on the PET samples by the plasma-assisted green synthesis. Additional optical assessment of fabric porosity and thickness measurements confirmed that these fabrics have excellent UV protection due to the presence of ZnO.