Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Sep 10;12(18):3140.
doi: 10.3390/nano12183140.

Eco-Friendly Approach to Produce Durable Multifunctional Cotton Fibres Using TiO2, ZnO and Ag NPs

Monika Ivanuša  1 , Blažka Kumer  1 , Elizabeta Petrovčič  1 , Danaja Štular  1   2 , Matija Zorc  1 , Ivan Jerman  2 , Marija Gorjanc  1 , Brigita Tomšič  1 , Barbara Simončič  1
Affiliations

Eco-Friendly Approach to Produce Durable Multifunctional Cotton Fibres Using TiO2, ZnO and Ag NPs

Monika Ivanuša et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

The development of durable multifunctional properties is crucial for the production of high-performance technical textiles. In this work, a novel, environmentally friendly and facile method was developed for the chemical modification of cotton fabric by in situ biosynthesis of Ag NPs in the presence of sumac leaf extract as a reducing agent on TiO2, ZnO and TiO2 + ZnO previously applied to cotton fibres. The results showed that the presence of TiO2, ZnO and TiO2 + ZnO significantly increased the concentrations of the synthesised Ag NPs on the cotton fibres compared to the one-component Ag coating. This resulted in excellent antimicrobial properties of the TiO2/Ag, ZnO/Ag and TiO2 + ZnO/Ag composites even after 25 washes. While the TiO2 and ZnO particles in the composite were incompatible, the synergistic effect among Ag, TiO2 and ZnO in the composites resulted in excellent UV blocking properties of the coatings before and after 25 washes. Since the biosynthesis of Ag NPs was accompanied by a yellow-brown colouration of the samples, the photocatalytic self-cleaning of the composite coating could not be determined from the photodegradation rate of the coffee stains. This research provides a new environmentally friendly approach to producing durable antimicrobial and UV blocking coatings on cotton fibres.

Keywords: Ag; TiO2; UV protection; ZnO; antimicrobial; cotton; durability; multifunctionality; nanocomposite coating.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
The preparation of durable multifunctional cotton samples.
Figure 1
Figure 1
SEM images of untreated (a) and chemically modified cotton samples: CO/TiO2/Ag (b), CO/ZnO/Ag (c) and CO/TiO2 + ZnO/Ag (d). SEM/BSE image of CO/TiO2 + ZnO/Ag sample (e). EDS spectrum acquired from CO/TiO2 + ZnO/Ag sample in place bordered with yellow (f).
Figure 2
Figure 2
IR ATR spectra of untreated (CO_UN) and chemically modified CO/TiO2/Ag, CO/ZnO/Ag and CO/TiO2 + ZnO/Ag samples.
Figure 3
Figure 3
XRD patterns of untreated (CO_UN) and chemically modified CO/TiO2/Ag, CO/ZnO/Ag and CO/TiO2 + ZnO/Ag samples.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Photo images of untreated and chemically modified cotton samples.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Absorption spectra of the untreated and chemically modified cotton samples (a); Tauc plots of the CO/TiO2, CO/ZnO and CO/TiO2 + ZnO samples (b); Tauc plots of the CO/TiO2/Ag, CO/ZnO/Ag and CO/TiO2 + ZnO/Ag samples (c); Eg values of chemically modified cotton samples determined from Tauc plots (d).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Bacterial reduction, R, of chemically modified cotton samples against E. coli before (0 W) and after 25 (25 W) washings.
Figure 7
Figure 7
UV transmission spectra of untreated and chemically modified cotton samples before (a) and after 25 washings (b).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Photocatalytic degradation of Rh B in the presence of the untreated and chemically modified samples after a different illumination time (a); digital images of the cuvettes filled with Rh B solution after 4 h of illumination (b).
Figure 9
Figure 9
Colour difference, ΔEab*, between the unilluminated samples stained by coffee and the stained samples illuminated by the simulated solar light for different periods of time (a); the lightness, Lab*, of the stained samples before and after visible light illumination for different periods of time (b); digital images of the samples stained by coffee before and after 8 h of visible light illumination (c).
Figure 10
Figure 10
Schematic presentation of the proposed photocatalytic mechanisms of TiO2 or ZnO (a), TiO2 + ZnO (b), TiO2/Ag or ZnO/Ag (c) and TiO2 + ZnO/Ag (d) composites on the chemically modified cotton samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Eckelman M.J., Zimmerman J.B., Anastas P.T. Toward green nano: E-factor analysis of several nanomaterial syntheses. J. Ind. Ecol. 2008;12:316–328. doi: 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2008.00043.x. - DOI
    1. Sarvalkar P.D., Barawkar S.D., Karvekar O.S., Patil P.D., Prasad S.R., Sharma K.K., Prasad N.R., Vhatkar R.S. A review on multifunctional nanotechnological aspects in modern textile. J. Text. Inst. 2022:1–18. doi: 10.1080/00405000.2022.2046304. - DOI
    1. Rashid M.M., Simončič B., Tomšič B. Recent advances in TiO2-functionalized textile surfaces. Surf. Interfaces. 2021;22:100890. doi: 10.1016/j.surfin.2020.100890. - DOI
    1. Verbič A., Gorjanc M., Simončič B. Zinc Oxide for Functional Textile Coatings: Recent Advances. Coatings. 2019;9:550. doi: 10.3390/coatings9090550. - DOI
    1. Deshmukh S.P., Patil S.M., Mullani S.B., Delekar S.D. Silver nanoparticles as an effective disinfectant: A review. Mater. Sci. Eng. C. 2019;97:954–965. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2018.12.102. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources