Antibacterial Superhydrophobic Cotton Fabric with Photothermal, Self-Cleaning, and Ultraviolet Protection Functionalities

Cotton fabrics with superhydrophobic, antibacterial,UV protection,and photothermal properties were developed using Ag/PDMS coatings,and the role of coating formulations on the obtained functionalitieswas studied. Specific attention was paid to understanding the relationshipsbetween the fabrics' superhydrophobicity and antibacterialactivity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. UV protection performance of Ag/PDMScoatings was thoroughly evaluated based on the variation of UV transmissionrate through coated fabrics and photoinduced chemiluminescence spectra.Moreover, the effect of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and PDMS ondeveloping a photothermal effect on fabrics was discussed. It wasfound that the content of Ag NPs and PDMS played critical roles indetermining the water contact angle (WCA) on modified fabrics. Thelargest WCA was 171.31 & DEG;, which was durable even after numerousaccelerated wash cycles and abrasions. Antibacterial activity of fabricsshowed the positive effect of pure PDMS in bacterial growth inhibition.Moreover, it was found that the antibacterial performance was greatlyaffected by the content of Ag NPs loaded on fabrics rather than theirsuperhydrophobic status. Moreover, increasing the content of Ag NPsboosted the UV protection level of fabrics, improved fabrics photostability,and reduced the UV transmission rate through fabrics. Testing thephotothermal effect confirmed that the content of Ag NPs and PDMSboth played prominent roles, where Ag acted as a photothermal agentand PDMS determined the NIR reflection rate from the coated surface.The modified fabrics were characterized using TGA, SEM, FTIR, andXRD techniques, and it was confirmed that using a higher amount ofPDMS increased the amount of Ag NPs deposition on fabrics.

Automated summary

Cotton fabrics with superhydrophobic, antibacterial, UV protection, and photothermal properties were developed using Ag/PDMS coatings. The relationship between the fabrics' superhydrophobicity and antibacterial activity against E. coli bacteria was studied, along with the UV protection performance of Ag/PDMS coatings. The content of Ag NPs and PDMS played critical roles in determining the water contact angle on modified fabrics, and increasing the content of Ag NPs boosted the UV protection level of fabrics.