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Non-leaching bactericidal cotton fabrics with well-preserved physical properties, no skin irritation and no toxicity

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Abstract

We developed an isocyanate group containing quaternary ammonium salt (IQAS) as a potential antimicrobial finishing agent that can be stored in a high purity form for more than a year in dry environments to permit convenient transportation and storage. Additionally, we report a facile and eco-friendly finishing technique to fabricate durable antimicrobial cotton fabrics using IQAS as an antimicrobial finishing agent by a dipping–padding–drying process. IQAS was bound onto the surface of cotton fabrics by a covalent bond to obtain a cotton fabric with excellent bactericidal activity, tearing strength, breaking elongation, bending rigidity, water vapor permeability, surface roughness and smoothness. The antimicrobial rates of these fabrics reached 92.2% and 98.5% against gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli and gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, respectively, even after 50 laundering cycles. These values are much higher than the reference antimicrobial rates of AAA class antimicrobial fabrics, as well as those of conventionally finished cotton fabrics, indicating that the IQAS finished cotton fabrics maintained excellent antimicrobial activity even after long-term repeated launderings. Moreover, the results indicate that the IQAS-treated cotton fabrics could improve the breaking strength (increased by 13.5% in the warp direction and 20.3% in the weft direction), the bursting strength (increased by 11.9%), the air permeability (increased by 12.6%) and the hydrophilicity compared to untreated cotton fabrics. Additionally, our non-leaching antimicrobial cotton fabrics treated with IQAS were non-toxic and showed no skin stimulation. Therefore, IQAS and the antimicrobial finishing technique reported here have great potential applications in antimicrobial fabrics used in hospitals, hotels and other susceptible situations.

Graphical abstract

An isocyanate group containing quaternary ammonium salt that permits convenient transportation and storage was developed as a potential antimicrobial finishing agent to fabricate excellent antimicrobial cotton fabrics with well-preserved physical properties and security using a dipping–padding–drying process.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51773117, 51573097), the Science and Technology Project of Guangdong Province (2015A010105033), the Collaborative Innovation and Technology Project for Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation Circle of Shenzhen city (SGLH 20120926161415782), and the Nanshan District Key lab for Biopolymers and safety evaluation (KC2014ZDZJ0001A).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanshan District Key Lab for Biopolymers and Safety Evaluation, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, People’s Republic of China

    Jingwei Gu, Lingjun Yuan, Ze Zhang, Junxuan Luo, Zifan Gui & Shiguo Chen

  2. Guangzhou Fibre Product Testing and Research Institute, Guangzhou, 511447, People’s Republic of China

    Xinhui Yang

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  1. Jingwei Gu
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  2. Lingjun Yuan
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  3. Ze Zhang
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  4. Xinhui Yang
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  5. Junxuan Luo
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  6. Zifan Gui
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  7. Shiguo Chen
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Correspondence to Shiguo Chen.

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Gu, J., Yuan, L., Zhang, Z. et al. Non-leaching bactericidal cotton fabrics with well-preserved physical properties, no skin irritation and no toxicity. Cellulose 25, 5415–5426 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-018-1943-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-018-1943-8

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