Sol-gel technology for greener and more sustainable antimicrobial textiles that use silica matrices with C, and Ag and ZnO as biocides

KATERINE IGAL; KARINE ZANOTTI; VANIA GOMES ZUIN; PATRICIA G. VAZQUEZ

Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry

Elsevier

Año: 2021

2666-0865

Based on the philosophy of Green Chemistry, in order to grant antimicrobial properties to fabrics, in this work a100% cotton fabric was used impregnating silver (Ag) and zinc oxide (ZnO) with the addition of carbon extractedfrom disused batteries, in the intuition of reuse them in a conscious and relevant way. For this, a simple andgreener chemical route that occurs at low temperatures was used, the silica-based sol-gel method, which requiresa precursor, in this case, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), and a catalyst to generate the basic hydrolysis usingammonium hydroxide. To evaluate the durability of the coating on the fabric, it was subjected to several washcycles. Finally, its antimicrobial activity against fungal and bacterial strains was evaluated by the modifiedstandard method (DIN 53931) and the agar-based diffusion method (SN 195920?1992), respectively. The sol-gelgreen method was effective for obtaining coating for the inhibition of fungal and bacterial strains. In addition,there was a high degree of persistence of the additives after the washing cycles before the antimicrobial tests,registering inhibition up to 20 cycles, making not only the process but also the final alternative fabric greener andmore sustainable.