Green Strategy for Development of Antimicrobial Printed Textile Fabrics

Abstract

The green synthesis strategy was established for textile finishing, aiming at development of antimicrobial-printed cotton and silk fabrics. The synthesis referred to the treatment of these fabrics with chitosan of low, medium and high molecular weights using different concentrations of each. This was followed by screen printing using a natural dye extracted from prickly pears. Thus, the obtained fabrics were monitored for nitrogen, color strength and antimicrobial activity. The results signify that the chitosan concentration and its molecular weight determine the magnitudes of both antimicrobial activity and color strength. Utilization of chitosan of medium or high molecular weight at a concentration of 2% in the treating solution inhibits completely the growth of s. aureus and E. coli, which represent two types of bacteria, namely gram +ve and gram −ve. Meanwhile, the color strength assumes the highest values. The antimicrobial activities of the treated fabrics with respect to other strains of bacteria and their color strength were reported. Also reported was the mode of interactions of chitosan with cotton and silk fabrics as well as a comparison between the results obtained from these two substrates.

Citation

A.A., H., Ali, N.F. and El- Thalouth, J.I.A. (2012), "Green Strategy for Development of Antimicrobial Printed Textile Fabrics", Research Journal of Textile and Apparel, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 77-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/RJTA-16-01-2012-B008