Polyfunctional cotton cellulose fabric using proper biopolymers and active ingredients

Smart finishing options have been developed to provide different end-use-functions namely anti-bacterial, UV-protection and stiffness properties to cotton fabrics. These options include treating the cotton fabric with an eco-friendly ester-crosslinking agent, citric acid (CA), proper esterifying catalyst, sodium hypophosphite (SHP), selected biopolymers, as stiffening/binding agents, namely carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), alginate, and polyacrylate, along with active ingredients namely chitosan biopoymer, Quat 188, Ag-NPs and ZnO-NPs using the pad-dry-thermofixation technique. The obtained results show that loading and binding of the nominated active ingredients onto/within the coated fabrics brings about a remarkable improvement in the targeted functional properties and the change in the imparted functional properties is governed by type of functional agent, kind of stiffening/binding agent, finishing regime as well as the extent of interaction and immobilization of active ingredients during the thermofixation step. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and X-ray spectroscopy analysis of selected samples confirmed chemical modification, change in surface morphology, and deposition of surface coats as well as fixation of active ingredients elements, respectively, onto the obtained poly-functional fabric samples. Moreover, the results show a noticeable laundering durability even after 15 washing cycles.