Abstract
Cotton fabrics are functionalized with a binary solution of fluorine-free organosilanes and “encapsulated” with silver nanoparticles to achieve both superhydrophobic and antimicrobial properties. Derived from cellulose, cotton is one of the most abundant biologically generated materials and has been used in a wide variety of consumer goods. Nonetheless, cotton fabrics are not waterproof and prone to microbial contamination. Herein we report the rapid functionalization of cotton fabrics with a binary hexane solution of methyltrichlorosilane (MTS) and octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) at low concentration (0.17% v/v) followed by coating with colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNP). The combined effects of binary silanization and AgNP encapsulation produced a surface that has remarkable water contact angle of 153 ± 2° and antimicrobial properties (against gram-negative Escherichia coli). The superior performance of the modified cotton fabrics produced with fluorine-free organosilanes and silver nanoparticles augments the potential of improving the functionality of abundant biopolymers to be waterproof and contamination-resistant.
Highlights
Another natural material, cotton has been popular to develop treatments for as it is one of the most abundant biopolymers found on Earth
For all samples treated with a mixture of MTS and OTS, the relative humidity was maintained at approximately 50% during sample preparation; it has been confirmed that relative humidities in this range are beneficial for silane diffusion and in promoting faster hydrolysis and polycondensation of the precursors[10]
We have discovered that treatments involving greater than 20 mM OTS can damage the cotton fabrics making them fragile with solid particles visible to the naked eye (Supplementary Information)
Summary
Cotton fabrics are functionalized with a binary solution of fluorine-free organosilanes and “encapsulated” with silver nanoparticles to achieve both superhydrophobic and antimicrobial properties. Inspired by many of these natural phenomena, a wide variety of treatment techniques have been developed to turn hydrophilic surfaces such as glass, paper, polycarbonate, silicon dioxide, titanium, and zinc oxide into ones that are hydrophobic and even superhydrophobic, which has been reviewed by other groups[1,4] Another natural material, cotton has been popular to develop treatments for as it is one of the most abundant biopolymers found on Earth. We describe a rapid, one-step immersion process with a binary, fluorine-free silane solution for modifying cotton textiles to attain superhydrophobic, and to achieve antimicrobial capability by subsequent encapsulation with silver nanoparticles. By implementing a binary methyltrichlorosilane (MTS) and octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) mixture, we are able to significantly decrease the amount of silanes and the reaction time required for achieving superhydrophobicity compared with traditional silanization processes
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