Development of plasma enhanced antiviral surgical gown for healthcare workers

Abstract

Plasma treatments are gaining popularity in the textile industry due to their numerous advantages over conventional wet processing techniques. In this study, nonwoven fabrics spunbond polypropylene, polyester basis weight of 25 g/m 2 and microporous PTFE film were used to develop tri-laminate antiviral surgical gown. The outer layer of spunbond polypropylene was treated with plasma enhanced fluorocarbon. The plasma treated polypropylene was also treated with titanium nano dispersion finish in a single bath pad-dry-cure method. The pore sizes of nonwoven fabrics were characterized using tri-nocular microscope. The titanium nano finished polypropylene was characterized by scanning electron microscope. The tri-laminate surgical gown was developed with outer layer of plasma treated polypropylene, middle layer of PTFE and inner layer of polyester nonwoven. Liquid barrier properties of surgical performance were analyzed by viral penetration, antibacterial, spray impact penetration, hydrostatic resistance, tensile properties and moisture vapour permeability to estimate their suitability for antiviral surgical gown. It is observed that plasma treated gown shows 99.04% bacterial reduction as compared to untreated, thus providing barrier against microbes. The plasma treatment does not alter the weight and tensile properties of surgical gown. The developed plasma enhanced flurocarbon treated tri-laminate surgical gown offer sufficient liquid barrier properties for level 4 protection as per Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation classification. Moisture vapour transfer rate of plasma treated tri-laminate gown decreased by 21% in comparison with untreated nonwoven gown.

Comparison of Quantitative Methods for Determining the Antibacterial Effectiveness of Non-Woven Textiles

“…Equally interesting was a polypropylene non-woven fabric, made by spunbond technology and treated with hydrogen fluoride using plasma. It was found that the fabric treated in this way shows 99,04% bacterial reduction, which represents an effective barrier against the penetration of microorganisms [13].…”

SARS-CoV-2 and its new variants: a comprehensive review on nanotechnological application insights into potential approaches

“…Recently, the nanotechnology has largely improved the protection effect of the personal protective equipment. Protective performance of these equipment is principally determined by the characteristics of the filtration such the thickness of the nonwoven layer, fiber charge and fiber diameter (Parthasarathi and Thilagavathi 2015). In general, the mask efficacy is conditional to their appropriate usage.…”

Biosafety materials: an emerging new research direction of materials science from the COVID-19 outbreak

“…Accordingly, a three-layer antiviral surgical suit with non-woven spunbond polypropylene, polyester and microporous PTFE film was developed. 139 Plasma technology was used to treat the outer layer of the spunbond polypropylene. The results showed that the plasma-treated surgical gown had a 99.04% reduction in microbes compared to the non-plasmatreated surgical gown, providing a microbial barrier for medical staff.…”