Study Of Healable Superhydrophobicity And Antimicrobial Property Of Cotton Surface Modified Via “Mist Polymerization”

Functional textiles such as biomimetic superhydrophobic textiles and antibacterial textiles are favored by more and more people. But there are many problems on the previous methods of textile functionalization, such as expensive equipment, a large amount of raw materials, degradation of the original breathability, water absorption and softness performance, and complex finishing processes.“Mist polymerization” is a new surface modification method that the polymerizable monomers are first atomized into fogdrop and then polymerize on the material surface, which forms a functional coating on the material surface and endow the material special performance. “Mist polymerization” has many advantages such as simple operation, less raw material, small degradation of original performance, wide range of monomer and so on. In this study, we researched the new methods for fabricating healable superhydrophobic cotton fabrics and antibacterial cotton fabrics via “mist polymerization”, and further reveal the mechanism of “mist polymerization” and the laws to impact cotton fabric surface properties.The first part of this paper describes the detailed preparation method of healable cotton fabric by “mist polymerization” technique and the effect. The surface was treated by one-step process. First, the organic solution of initiator tert-butyl peroxybenzoate(TBPB), monomer lauryl methacrylate(LMA), monomer 2-isocyanatoethyl methacrylate(IEM) and monomer ethylene glycol dimethacrylate(EGD) was atomized onto the surface of cotton textile, and was initiated to “mist polymerization” by heating. The “mist polymerization” process produces a polymer layer with hiberarchy on the cotton fiber surface and endows cotton fabric a superhydrophobicity by adjusting the polymerization condition. Then, the scanning electron microscopy(SEM), fourier transform infrared spectrum(FTIR) and contact angle measurement were used to characterize the modified cotton fabric, and the influence rules of IEM proportion, mist feeding time, reaction temperature and reaction time on surface hydrophobic property were studied. The results show that WCA obtained a maximum value of 158° when the molar ratio of IEM is 12%. Research on the durability shows that the modified cotton fabrics have good laundering durability and wearability, and the declining superhydrophobicity can be healed by ironing. The deterioration degree of cotton fabric’s high water absorption, vapor permeability and flexibility is very small because of the thin polymer layer fabricated by “mist polymerization”.In the second part, we prepared an antibacterial cotton fabric utilized “mist polymerization” and researched its performance. First, an antibacterial monomer 3-propenyloxy-5,5-dimethyl hydantoin(MDMH) was synthesized with 5,5-dimethyl hydantoin(DMH) and methacryloyl chloride, and the chemical structure of synthetic products was confirmed through nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) and FTIR. Then the cotton fabric was treated by atomizing ammonium ceric nitrate(ACN) solution to obtain free radical. The aqueous solution of MDMH was atomized onto cotton fabric surface and was initiated to “mist polymerization” by heating, which generated an antibacterial polymer layer on the surface. The antibacterial polymer layer was chloridized with a solution of NaClO to obtain antibacterial cotton fabric. A series of antibacterial cotton fabric samples were obtained according to different MDMH concentration. The antibacterial cotton fabric samples were characterized with SEM and FTIR and their antibacterial property was tested with Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The results showed that the modified cotton fabric with 4% MDMH treated revealed inhibition rate of 100% and 99.78% to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. In addition, the antibacterial cotton fabric obtained by mist polymerization also has excellent laundering durability, vapor permeability, water absorption ability and ?exibility.This article utilize “mist polymerization” technique to fabricate healable superhydrophobic and antibacterial cotton fabric successfully, which not only extends the application of mist polymerization, but also provide a new way for the preparation of more practical functional textile and the development of material surface modification technology.