Eco-friendly fabric modification based on AgNPs@Moringa for mosquito repellent applications

Abstract

Moringa oleifera is well known for its biological activity as antifungal and antibacterial agent. Researchers have worked to further enhance this activity using silver nanoparticles. Currently, there has been no report documenting the utilization of Moringa silver nanoparticles (AgNP@Moringa) as mosquito repellent agent, so this work is an unprecedented application in this field. From this perspective, synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using fresh Moringa leaves extract has been performed in order to increase its activity especially for controlling mosquitoes. The AgNPs@Moringa was characterized by different methods such as UV–Vis spectra and TEM. The results indicated that synthesized nanoparticles have spherical shape with average diameter of 1–17 nm. The hybrid solution containing Moringa-AgNPs was used to modify 100% cotton, 50% cotton (CO)/50% polyester (PET), viscose and linen fabrics, for use as mosquito repellent. The presence of AgNPs@Moringa nanoparticles on the fabric surface was investigated using FT-IR, SEM and EDX. The treated fabric repellency to Culex pipiens mosquitoes showed stable 100% repellency for 6 days for all treated fabrics and ranged from 50 to 90% repellency after 12 days.