Silver-loaded cotton/polyester fabric modified by dielectric barrier discharge treatment

Abstract

The preparation of antimicrobial silver-loaded cotton/polyester fabrics has been carried out by DBD surface activation followed by silver sorption from aqueous silver nitrate solution. A series of DBD fabric treatments was performed in order to determine the most suitable experimental conditions for the fabric surface activation. The capillarity, silver ion uptake, and copper number were used to assess the surface changes on the fabrics. An effective process has been developed to obtain antimicrobial silver-loaded Co/PES fabrics. The antimicrobial activity of the silver-loaded fabrics against different pathogens was evaluated in vitro. The quantity of bonded silver ions is enough to develop desirable antimicrobial activity in the Co/PES fabrics. A figure is presented. ©2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.