Functionalization of PET Fabrics by Corona and Nano Silver

Abstract

In this work, the antibacterial and other properties of polyester fabrics previously functionalized by corona and/or silver nano particles have been studied. Corona air plasma was used as a pretreatment of raw, washed and washed-thermostabilized polyester fabrics to increase the adhesion of nano silver particles resulting in an excellent antibacterial effect. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was applied to analyze the surface composition and chemical bonding of the surface atoms on untreated and treated fabrics. The surface morphological changes of polyester fibers were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The quantity of silver on the polyester fabrics was determined by the use of the inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry method. The antimicrobial properties of functionalized polyester fabrics were tested according to American Society for Testing and Materials ASTM Designation: E 2149-01. Additionally, the dyeing of polyester fabrics with selected disperse dye as well as capillary action tests were performed to confirm the chemical and morphological changes of polyester fibers after corona treatment. Considerable differences in surface composition were found between the raw and washed or washed-thermostabilized fabrics. The surface of raw fabrics is richer in carbon and the concentrations of the C—O and O—C=O groups are lower than on the other samples. An opposite effect is observed for washed and washed thermostabilized fabrics. SEM analyses show that the plasma treatment also affects the surface morphology. The chemical surface composition and morphology are highly related to the hydrophobicity and hydrophylicity, and the achievement of better nano silver adhesion and enhanced dyeing and antimicrobial properties of differently prepared corona plasma-treated polyester fabrics. Therefore, corona air-treated raw polyester fabrics demonstrated optimum antimicrobial properties due to the excellent adhesion of nano silver.

Applications of Carbon Nanotubes to Flexible Transparent Conductive Electrodes

“…Therefore, corona pretreatment has also been suggested because it can be carried out at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. During the corona treatment, corona energy breaks molecular bonds on the surface of nonpolar substrates, and the broken bonds then recombine with free radicals in the corona environment to form polar groups on the film surface [23]. Namely, the surface of flexible substrate can be changed from hydrophobic to hydrophilic through the corona treatment.…”

Influence of Nanofinishes on the Antimicrobial Properties of Fabrics

“…Method of Preparation and Application. PET fabrics have been subjected to single-and double-sided corona air treatment at the atmospheric pressure using a device meant for the purpose [34]. Fabrics have been placed on a backing electrode roller covered with silicon coating and rotating at a speed of 4 m/min.…”

“…Raw, washed, and washed-thermostabilized fabrics have been tested for antimicrobial efficacy. The microbial reduction is based on the concentration of the nanosilver in the case of raw plasma treated fabrics [34]. These fabrics exhibit the highest adsorption of silver.…”

Antimicrobial Biomimetics

“…Inorganic active agents with antimicrobial activity can be based on a variety of inorganic nanostructured materials, such as titanium dioxide (Fu et al, 2005), silver (Jeong et al, 2005a;Rai et al, 2009) and silver-based nanostructured materials (Nishino & Kanno, 2008;Kittler et al, 2009), zinc oxide , copper (Cubillo et al, 2006), gallium (Valappil et al, 2008) or gold (Park et al, 2006;Zhang et al, 2008) plus their composites (Sambhy et al, 2006). Metallic and inorganic particles can be loaded into different organic carriers, like liposomes , nano-and micro-capsules (Shim et al, 2002) or dendrimers (Raveendran et al, 2006) finding many applications in the industry of fabrics (Gorensek et al, 2010;Dastjerdi & Montazer, 2010), plastic (Roe et al, 2008; or biomaterials for drug delivery (Sharma et al, 2004;Pandey & Khuller, 2004;Hardi-Ianderer et al, 2008). Titanium dioxide nanoparticles have antibacterial (Fu et al, 2005;Daoud et al, 2005) and self-cleaning properties (Bozzi et al, 2005 (Cubillo et al, 2006) despite the lower antibacterial activity of copper when compared to silver nanoparticles (Pape et al, 2002).…”