A green dry route for antibacterial nanofinishing of textiles

Summary, in English

In this paper, an aerosol-based process is proven for imparting antibacterial property to textiles. Nanoparticles of copper and silver are produced by means of glow discharge between two electrodes in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure and passed through fabrics of cotton and polyester which act as filter media. The bactericidal performance of the nanofinished fabrics is assessed against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gramnegative Klebsiella pneumonia bacteria. Nanoparticle loads of about 0.3 g/m² (~ 0.2 wt %) give strong antibacterial activity to the fabrics regardless of particle composition and size. Higher loads do not enhance the bactericide property but affect the colour and hand feel of the fabrics. Cotton and polyester fabrics with low loads (<0.3 g/m²) of small silver nanoparticles (<10 nm) show different bactericidal behaviour. Polyester fabrics attain good antibacterial activity for SA and KP, which is retained (KP) or decreases (SA) after washing. Cotton fabrics show hardly bactericidal property but, in some cases, it increases after washing.

• Author: Esther Hontañón; Einar Kruis; María Blanes; Laura Santos; Linus Ludvigsson; Axel R. Persson; Maria E. Messing
• Department/s: Solid State Physics; NanoLund: Centre for Nanoscience
• Publishing year: 2015
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Proceedings of the World Congress on New Technologies
• Links: http://www.avestia.com/NewTech2015_Proceedings/files/papers/ICNFA418.pdf
• Document type: Conference paper
• Topic: Textile, Rubber and Polymeric Materials
• Keywords: Aerosol filtration; Antibacterial activity; Glow discharge; Metal nanoparticles; Textile nanofinishing; Washing durability
• Conference name: World Congress on New Technologies, NewTech 2015
• Conference date: 2015-07-15 - 2015-07-17
• Conference place: Barcelona, Spain
• Status: Published