A review on the application of inorganic nano-structured materials in the modification of textiles: Focus on anti-microbial properties

Textiles can provide a suitable substrate to grow micro-organisms especially at appropriate humidity and temperature in contact to human body. Recently, increasing public concern about hygiene has been driving many investigations for anti-microbial modification of textiles. However, using many anti-microbial agents has been avoided because of their possible harmful or toxic effects. Application of inorganic nano-particles and their nano-composites would be a good alternative. This review paper has focused on the properties and applications of inorganic nano-structured materials with good anti-microbial activity potential for textile modification. The discussed nano-structured anti-microbial agents include TiO2 nano-particles, metallic and non-metallic TiO2 nano-composites, titania nanotubes (TNTs), silver nano-particles, silver-based nano-structured materials, gold nanoparticles, zinc oxide nano-particles and nano-rods, copper nano-particles, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), nano-clay and its modified forms, gallium, liposomes loaded nano-particles, metallic and inorganic dendrimers nano-composite, nano-capsules and cyclodextrins containing nano-particles. This review is also concerned with the application methods for the modification of textiles using nano-structured materials. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.