Development of self-sanitizing casual wear: an anti-microbial protection approach

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness of good hygiene and antimicrobial protection in daily life. This study presents the development of self-sanitizing casual wear through an innovative approach directly integrating antimicrobial properties into textile materials. For this purpose, the cotton fabric was treated with hybrid formulations that were prepared using a cost-effective simple immersion process and consisted of quaternary chitosan (HTCC, TMC), metal nanoparticles (Ag-ZnO), and silane (VTES). The treated fabric exhibited excellent anti-staining properties and moderate antimicrobial, i.e. self-sanitizing activity against both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli) while preserving the physico-chemical properties of the original cotton. The water contact angles of cotton treated with HTCC/Ag-ZnO NPs/VTES and TMC/Ag-ZnO NPs/VTES were 146 and 141°, respectively, indicating proximity to superhydrophobicity, a crucial criterion for the anti-staining efficacy against solid and liquid contaminants of the cotton fabric. The enhanced properties of the treated cotton fabric, including stability and durability, remained consistent after 15 washing cycles for water contact angle, i.e. hydrophobicity assessment. The findings indicated the feasibility of integrating antimicrobial protection into everyday clothing, offering a proactive solution to reducing the transmission of pathogens in various environments.