Research On Functional Modification Of Cotton Fabrics With Cactus/Nano-silver

With the continuous advancement of high-tech, people have higher requirements on the quality, performance and value-added of the textile fabrics. Active ingredient was extracted from cactus, then we get natural anti-UV finishing agent, and the nano-silver had been prepared by bioreduction. Use them to modify cotton fabrics, making the cotton fabrics with excellent anti-UV properties and antibacterial. This method is not only safe, no stimulation to skin, but also meet the environmental protection requirements.Extract flavonoids from cactus by taking ethanol as solvent. The flavonoids were characterized by color reaction, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometry(FTIR) and UV/Visible Absorption Spectrophotometry. Use the extraction flavonoids from cactus deal with cotton products, and improve the UV performance of cotton products. At the same time, the cotton fabric optimum UV finishing process had also been studied. The modified cotton fabric’s transmittance of UVA and UVB has been dropped significantly. The anti-UV radiation performance of modified cotton fabric was enhanced distinctly, the UPF value were enhanced from original 4.53 to 44.Nano-silver solutions were prepared by mixing the cactus extraction and the silver ammonia solutions. The formation of silver nanoparticles was characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), UV/Visible Absorption Spectrophotometry and X-ray Diffraction (XRD), We can found silver nanoparticles on the surface of cotton fibers treated by cactus nano-silver solutions.The cotton fabrics treated under the optimum process of modification showed excellent and durable antibacterial effect with the bacterial efficacy respectively reaching 99.99% against S. aureus and 99.97% against E. coli, and the antibacterial efficacy can maintained even up to 99% reduction level even after being exposed to 50 consecutive home laundering conditions.The moisture retention and water absorbency of modified cotton fabrics were enhanced slightly. At the same time the modification has little influence on mechanical properties, thermal properties and crystallinity. Whiteness of fabrics dropped slightly.