A novel methodology for stabilization of silver nanoparticles on cotton, nylon and cotton/nylon fabrics using chitosan and triethyl orthoformate for enhanced and elongated anti-bacterial performance

Abstract

In the present study, the commercially available three different cotton, nylon and cotton/nylon fabrics were first modified by chitosan coating in the presence of a crosslinker triethyl orthoformate (TEOF) and then were loaded with silver nanoparticles. Resulted cotton‑silver (Ag-Cs-Cot), nylon‑silver (Ag-Cs-Nylon) and cotton-nylon silver (Ag-Cs-Cot-Nyl) fabrics showed extra-long anti-bacterial activity. In FTIR spectra the stretch of secondary amine near the 3375 cm indicated the silver attachment to the amine group of the chitosan and the peak at 1650 cm confirmed that TEOF bonded chitosan to fabrics. In SEM images smooth surfaces of fabrics without any damage by modification process were observed. The antibacterial activity showed 90 % bacterial inhibition against the E. coli and 89 % bacterial inhibition against S. aureus. The modified fabrics were washed with non-ionic detergent (10 g/l) and retained anti-bacterial activity till 50 washing cycles. Finally, the commercial potential of cotton‑silver fabric was evaluated by stitching it with the socks of football players and interestingly results showed that the modified fabric on the socks showed >90 % bacterial inhibition as compared to the plain fabric after 90 min playing activity. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.]