An eco-friendly, permanent, and non-leaching antimicrobial coating on cotton fabrics

Abstract

A permanent, non-leaching antibacterial finish for cotton textile fabric was prepared by a sol-gel process using quaternary ammonium-modified triethoxysilane. The transparent coating was investigated against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram negative) bacterial strains. A rapid decrease in bacterial count was observed within 48 h. The correlation between concentration of modified silane and antibacterial activity was studied. It was observed that this treatment had no significant effect on textile strength, stiffness, crease recovery angle, and whiteness index of the fabric. The coating demonstrated very good washing fastness with no significant decrease in antibacterial properties even after 15 lab washing cycles.