Dye-loaded nanoparticles for eco-friendly textile inkjet printing

Coloured cellulose textiles extensively enriched human-beings’ modern lives, but the problem of dye pollution has been a long-plagued trouble and still poses an alarming threat to environment and human beings. In view of this problem, herein, multi-color antireflective nanoparticles inspired by biology were prepared using dye adsorption method. Then, it was applied in cotton inkjet printing to realize the improvement of dye utilisation efficiency. Results shows that, cationic poly(styrene-butyl acrylate-vinylbenzyl trimethylammonium chloride) (PSBV) nanoparticles exhibited high dye capacity. The dye-adsorbed nanoparticles possessed uniform spherical structure with an average size at about 90 nm and a surface potential over −30 mV.

Durable patterns

Turbiscan Lab measurement and high-speed camera system show that the dye-adsorbed nanoparticles possessed good stability and satisfactory jetting performance. Moreover, after the inkjet printing on cotton fabrics, the reflectance was significantly reduced with higher colour strength in comparison to the same concentration of dye solution. Moreover, owing to the reaction between the nanoparticles and -OH groups on cotton fibers, durable patterns were obtained. According the the researchers, their work provides a potential method on the preparation and application of dye/polymer nanoparticles in textile colouration for improved eco-friendliness and efficiency.

The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 182, September 2023.

Reading tip

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