Fabrication characterization and antibacterial efficacy of fabrics functionalized with silver nanoparticles

Abstract

Textiles are favorable substrates for bacterial biofilm development when contaminated with biofluids because of their unique surface topography and wetting ability when contaminated with biofluids. Consequently, contaminated textiles such as hospital bed sheets, healthcare uniforms, surgical gowns, hospital robes, fire resistant garments, etc. can act as vectors for hospital-acquired infections. Surface modifications of fabrics through conjugation with antibacterial nanoparticles (NPs) have shown promising results by reducing bacterial growth. Although NPs functionalized fabrics are of research interest, there remain challenges such as fabrication complexity, cost, stability, long term efficacy and efficacy against bacterial strains. However, the detachment of NPs from fabrics decreases their efficacy, and re-coating NPs onto fabrics can be challenging. This thesis, presents a simple dip-coating technique to impart antibacterial activity to commercially available pure cotton and Nomex fabrics that are commonly used in hospital sector as patient care and protective clothings. Silver (Ag) NPs, an inherent antibacterial agent is anchored to the fabrics using hydrophilic water-soluble polyurethane and chitosan, and hydrophobic polymethyl methacrylate, polycaprolactone, and polyvinyl chloride. The antibacterial activity of Ag NPs modified fabrics is evaluated using AATCC-147 and AATCC-100 methods against gram-positive, gram-negative, and multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains. A comparative account of the durability of antibacterial activities following hand and rigorous shaker wash shows that the polymers, especially water-soluble polyurethane have high potential for improving the performance of the Ag NPs decorated fabrics, prepared by a simple cost-effective technique, further supported by the results of hemolysis and zebrafish embryo studies. newlineKeywords: Silver nanoparticles; hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers; antibacterial activity; cotton fabric; Nomex fabric. newline