Herbal products have been widely used due to good antimicrobial, fragrance and medical properties. Essential oils and fragrances can be applied on the textile substrates as micro/nanocapsules to prolong lifetime by controlling the release rate. The present review tries to give a general overview on the application of micro/nanoencapsulated essential oils on the textile substrates to achieve aromatherapy textiles. These are divided into four diverse categories as the following: antimicrobial, perfumed, mosquito-repellent and medical textiles. The reports in this field revealed that the encapsulation technique plays an important role in the finishing of plant extracts on the textile substrates. It is also anticipated that aromatherapy textiles have to be developed in the new fields such as multifunctional textiles having wound-healing, antimicrobial and fragrant properties.
Application of natural biopolymers for green and safe synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the textiles is a novel and interesting approach. The present study offers the use of natural biopolymer, Tragacanth gum, as the reducing, stabilizing and binding agent for in-situ synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the cotton fabric. Ultrasonic irradiation leads to clean and easy synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles in short-time at low-temperature. FESEM/EDX, XRD, FT-IR spectroscopy, DSC, photocatalytic activities and antimicrobial assay are used to characterize Tragacanth gum/zinc oxide nanoparticles coated cotton fabric. The analysis confirmed synthesis of star-like zinc oxide nanoparticles with hexagonal wurtzite structure on the cotton fabric with the average particle size of 62nm. The finished cotton fabric showed a good photocatalytic activity on degradation of methylene blue and 100% antimicrobial properties with inhibition zone of 3.3±0.1, 3.1±0.1 and 3.0±0.1mm against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.