Antibacterial coating on cotton fabric
In a recently published paper silver/waterborne polyurethane-acrylate’s antibacterial coating on cotton fabric based on click reaction via ultraviolet radiation was synthesised.
Silver/waterborne polyurethane-acrylate (Ag/WPUA) coating was firstly synthesised by a novel and facile method of combining in-situ reduction and polymerisation reactions. Cotton fabrics were pre-treated to introduce SH groups by the reaction between the OC2H5 groups of 3-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane and OH groups of cotton fabrics.
Investigating antibacterial and mechanical property
Then antibacterial finishing of cotton fabric was obtained with Ag/WPUA coating under ultraviolet (UV) radiation where click reaction was taken place between SH groups and CC bonds. Ag/WPUA coating was characterised by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectra (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The chemical bonding, antibacterial property, thermal stability and mechanical property of antibacterial cotton were investigated.
Excellent antibacterial activity
The results of antibacterial test elucidate that the bacterial reduction was 99.99% for E. coli and S.aureus, revealing that the finishing on cotton fabrics has excellent antibacterial activity. Furthermore, the antibacterial cotton fabrics still maintains good mechanical properties like breaking strength and thermal stability.
The study is published in: Progress in Organic Coatings Volume 120, July 2018, Pages 10-18.
