Alexium’s Reactive Surface Treatment (RST) uses “cold” microwave energy to direct a precursor’s polymerization onto a substrate’s surface. Based on the precursor’s chemistry, the substrate’s material properties, and the solution used to mix these, the resulting nanoscopic coating may chemically bond to the substrate or simply form an intractable coating at the substrate surface. This flexibility allows a wide range of materials to be treated — many of which cannot be functionalized with a durable coating via other methods. An example of this is shown for a para-aramid fabric that has been treated with an oil and water repellent nanoscopic coating via RST. With this fabric that is traditionally difficult to treat, these SEM images demonstrate the scale and structure of the applied coatings which encase the fibers.