The antibacterial finish of cotton via sols containing quaternary ammonium salts

The sols containing quaternary ammonium salts were prepared via sol-gel process. The effects of the molar rate of HCl, H2O and EtOH to TEOS on the sol viscosity were investigated in detail. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), Octadecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (DC) and Ethylene-Bis (Octadecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride) [E-Bis(OTAC)]were added in the sols and applied to cotton samples by treated. The antibacterial activities of the samples were assessed against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The samples treated by E-Bis(OTAC) sol exhibited the satisfactory antibacterial activity that resulted from the more microorganism adsorption and hydrophobicity. The antibacterial activities were still excellent after 10 times washings comparison with the control samples.