Chemical, Thermo-Mechanical and Antimicrobial Properties of DBD Plasma Treated Disinfectant-Impregnated Wipes during Storage.

Song Song,Cvelbar Cvelbar,Vossebein Vossebein,Zille Zille,Strazar Strazar

doi:10.3390/polym11111769

Song Song, Cvelbar Cvelbar + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11111769

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Abstract

Disinfectant-impregnated wipes are broadly used in hospitals, as an important approach for infection prevention and control. But their ageing performance has rarely been studied. Untreated and Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma pre-treated wiping materials made of nonwoven 100% polyester (W1), nonwoven 55% cellulose/45% polyester (W2) and woven cotton (W3) were impregnated with a quaternary ammonium compound solution (ADBAC) for 30 min, 3, 7, 15, and 30 days of storage time and characterized in term of chemical, thermo-mechanical and antimicrobial efficacy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis on the plasma-treated polyester wipes demonstrates the incorporation of reactive oxygen species on the fiber surface. Laser scanning microscopy demonstrates the plasma etching effect in smoothing the surface of the cotton wipe reducing the adsorption of ADBAC. The result showed no significant changes in breaking force and elongation during storage for W1 and W2. However, plasma treatment affects W3 in weft direction reducing the force at break in water and ADBAC treated wipes. Dynamic mechanical analysis results show that ADBAC and plasma treatment have a significant influence in W1 and W3 viscoelastic properties improving the elastic response limiting the polymeric chains mobility and the non-elastic response due to the etching effect, respectively. Overall, the plasma pre-treatment of ADBAC-impregnated wipes is able to enhance the antimicrobial performance and the storage time of polyester-containing wipes.

Highlights

Surface disinfectants integrated with textile materials as disinfectant-impregnated wipes are the most prevalent disinfection methods used in nosocomial environment, food processing industry and other domestic situations [1,2,3]
This paper studied the ageing of the untreated and dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma-treated disinfectant-containing wipes after 30 min, 3 days, 7 days, 15 days and 30 days of storage
The quaternary ammonium salt used for the tests is alkyldimethylbenzylammonium chloride (ADBAC) and it was purchased from the company EMD Millipore Corporation, a subsidiary of

Summary

Introduction

Surface disinfectants integrated with textile materials as disinfectant-impregnated wipes are the most prevalent disinfection methods used in nosocomial environment, food processing industry and other domestic situations [1,2,3]. Their simple application, reliable performance and user-friendly features contribute to their wide-spreading for surface disinfection application [2]. The participation of textile material could remove visible debris and organic matters that could hinder the disinfectant performance [3,4]. The most commonly used textile material in wipe application is composed by cellulosic fibers such as cotton, woodpulp, viscose etc., and thermoplastic fibers like polyester and polypropylene [6,7].

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