Antimicrobial polyethylene terephthalate (PET) treated with an aromatic <i>N</i>‐halamine precursor, <i>m</i>‐aramid

Abstract

Abstract A commercial m ‐aramid as N ‐halamine precursor has been coated onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric surface by pad‐dry‐curing process. The process is accomplished by padding the scoured PET fabric through the homogeneous m ‐aramid solution, drying at 150°C for 3 min, and curing at 230°C for 3 min. The PET surface coated with m ‐aramid was characterized using fourier transform infrared‐attenuated total reflection (FTIR‐ATR) spectroscopy, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). FTIR exhibits new bands in the 1645 and 1524 cm −1 regions as characteristic of m ‐aramid bands, which indicate the PET fabric coated with m ‐aramid. XPS results show a distinguishable peak at binding energy 398.7 eV, which confirms the nitrogen atom of m ‐aramid on the PET surface. In addition, SEM image shows a layer of coating onto the PET surfaces, which demonstrates the presence of m ‐aramid coating on the surface of the PET. After exposure to dilute sodium hypochlorite solution, exhibition of antimicrobial activity on the coated PET is attributed to the conversion of N ‐halamine moieties from the N ‐halamine precursor. The chlorinated PET showed high antimicrobial activity against Gram‐negative and Gram‐positive bacteria. The chlorinated PET coated with 10% m ‐aramid exhibited about 6 log reductions of S. aureus and E. coli O157:H7 at a contact time of 10 and 30 min, respectively. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activity was durable and rechargeable after 25 wash cycles. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009