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Silver-based, single-sided antibacterial cotton fabrics with improved durability via an l-cysteine binding effect

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Abstract

The main purpose of this work was to obtain durable antimicrobial cotton textiles functionalized with l-cysteine (Cys) and silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Cys molecules were covalently linked to cotton fibers via esterification with the cellulose hydroxyl groups, and the Ag NPs tightly adhered to the fiber surface via coordination bonds with the Cys thiol groups. As a result, the Ag NPs coating on the cotton fabric showed an excellent antibacterial function with an outstanding laundering durability. Even after 90 consecutive laundering tests, the modified cotton fabrics still showed satisfactory bacterial reduction rates against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, and the rates were are all higher than 94%. These findings will allow for broader applications of antimicrobial cotton textiles with a decreased safety risk and lower environmental impact due to the Ag NPs.

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Acknowledgment

This work was financially supported by Public Welfare Technology Application Research Project of Zhejiang Province (2017C31035) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (51573167).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Textile, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Xiasha Higher Education Zone, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    QingBo Xu, XiaTing Ke, DongRong Cai, YanYan Zhang, FeiYa Fu & XiangDong Liu

  2. Molecular Engineering Institute, Kinki University, Kayanomori, Iizuka, 820-8555, Japan

    Takeshi Endo

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  1. QingBo Xu
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  2. XiaTing Ke
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  3. DongRong Cai
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  4. YanYan Zhang
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  7. XiangDong Liu
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Correspondence to XiangDong Liu.

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Xu, Q., Ke, X., Cai, D. et al. Silver-based, single-sided antibacterial cotton fabrics with improved durability via an l-cysteine binding effect. Cellulose 25, 2129–2141 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-018-1689-3

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