Effect of thymol on the antibacterial efficiency of plasma-treated cotton fabric

In this research, the effect of thymol on the antibacterial activity of cotton fabric when modified by low-temperature plasma was investigated. The modification consisted of plasma pre-functionalization followed by one-step wet treatment with thymol. Oxygen and nitrogen were used as the working gases in the plasma reactor. The results showed that plasma-treated samples can absorb more thymol than untreated samples. Thus, the antibacterial activity of the samples in this case, which was analyzed by the bacteria counting test, was increased considerably. Durability of the antibacterial property was also assessed. It was concluded that loading thymol on plasma-treated cotton fabric produced effective durable antibacterial textiles.