Scalable Fabrication of Highly Breathable Cotton Textiles with Stable Fluorescent, Antibacterial, Hydrophobic, and UV-Blocking Performance

Multifunctional cotton textiles that are highly breathable are desirable in a broad range of applications. However, it is still a big challenge to scale up production of such multifunctional cotton textiles. Herein, we developed a simple, scalable, and benign strategy to fabricate highly breathable multifunctional cotton textiles via mild surface modification. The 1,4-dihydropyridine (DHP) ring and gentamycin sulfate (GS) molecules were firmly attached to the cellulose chains under room temperature via a one-pot method. The resulting modified cotton textile showed integrated performances with bright fluorescence, good antibacterial behavior, hydrophobic behavior (contact angle of 134 degrees), and UV-blocking (UPF being up to 69.2), which are very stable toward washing and various solvents. There is no obvious change in the whiteness, thermal stability, and mechanical performance of cotton fabrics after the surface modification. What's more, the air permeability of the modified cotton fabric was up to 31.3 (cm(3)/cm(2))/s. This study not only focuses on the materials design and large-scale fabrication but also provides stable and multifunctional cotton textiles with broad application prospects for many fields.

Automated summary

This study successfully fabricated highly breathable multifunctional cotton textiles through a simple, scalable, and benign surface modification method. The modified cotton textiles exhibited bright fluorescence, good antibacterial behavior, hydrophobic properties, and UV-blocking capability, while maintaining stability during washing and exposure to various solvents.