Antimicrobial Reagents as Functional Finishing for Textiles Intended for Biomedical Applications. I. Synthetic Organic Compounds

Bacterial Cellulose: Nano-biomaterial for Biodegradable Face Masks- A Greener Approach Towards Environment

The use of face masks aids to stop the transmission of various deadly communicable ailments, and therefore widespread mask wearing habit is advocated by nearly all health organisations including the WHO to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent studies predicted a shocking requirement of masks globally, approximately billions of masks per week in a single country, and maximum of them are disposable masks, which are made up of nonbiodegradable material such as polypropylene. With expanding review on improper masks disposal, it is imperative to perceive this inherent environmental hazard and avert it from resulting in the subsequent problematic situation due to plastic. The shift towards biodegradable biopolymers alternatives such as bacterial cellulose and newly evolving sustainable scientific knowledge would be significant to dealt with upcoming environmental problem. Bacterial cellulose possesses various desirable properties to replace the conventional mask material. This review gives an overview of data about accumulation of waste masks and its potential harm on environment. It also focuses on diverse characteristics of bacterial cellulose which make it suitable material for making mask and the challenges in the way of bacterial cellulose production and their possible solution. The current review also discussed the report on global bacterial cellulose market growth.

Promising Methods of Antibacterial Finishing of Textile Materials

A review article, containing information on the options, possibilities, and prospects for the development of antibacterial finishing of textile materials, is presented. A wide range of products designed to impart antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antiviral properties to textile materials is considered. The main factors determining the appropriate decision on the technological and functional choice of the protective composition are presented, including the nature of the fiber-forming polymer, the tasks that the resulting material is designed to solve, and its application options. Compositions providing the required effect of destruction of the pathogenic flora and their application technologies are described. Special attention is paid to antimicrobial agents based on silver nanoparticles. Nanoparticles of this metal have a detrimental effect on antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria; their effectiveness is higher as compared to a number of well-known antibiotics, for example, penicillin and its analogues. Silver nanoparticles are harmless to the human body. Acting as an inhibitor, they limit the activity of the enzyme responsible for oxygen consumption by single-cell bacteria, viruses, and fungi. In this case, silver ions bind to the outer and inner proteins of the bacterial cell membranes, blocking cellular respiration and reproduction. Various options to apply microencapsulation methods for the implementation of antibacterial finishing are considered, including: phase separation, suspension crosslinking, simple and complex coacervation, spray drying, crystallization from the melt, evaporation of the solvent, co-extrusion, layering, fluidized bed spraying, deposition, emulsion and interphase polymerization, layer-by-layer electrostatic self-assembly etc. All presented technologies are at various development stages-from the laboratory stage to production tests, they all have certain advantages and disadvantages. The accelerated development and implementation of the described methods in production of textile materials is relevant and is related to the existing complex epidemiological situation in the world.

Characterization of Hybrid Materials Prepared by Sol-Gel Method for Biomedical Implementations. A Critical Review

The interaction between tissues and biomaterials (BM) has the purpose of improving and replacing anatomical parts of the human body, avoiding the occurrence of adverse reactions in the host organism. Unfortunately, the early failure of implants cannot be currently avoided, since neither a good mixture of mechanical and chemical characteristics of materials nor their biocompatibility has been yet achieved. Bioactive glasses are recognized to be a fine class of bioactive substances for good repair and replacement. BM interact with living bones through the formation of a hydroxyapatite surface layer that is analogous to bones. Bioglasses' composition noticeably affects their biological properties, as does the synthesis method, with the best one being the versatile sol-gel technique, which includes the change of scheme from a 'sol' fluid into a 'gel'. This process is widely used to prepare many materials for biomedical implants (e.g., hip and knee prostheses, heart valves, and ceramic, glassy and hybrid materials to serve as carriers for drug release). Nanoparticles prepared by the sol-gel method are interesting systems for biomedical implementations, and particularly useful for cancer therapy. This review provides many examples concerning the synthesis and characterization of the above-mentioned materials either taken from literature and from recently prepared zirconia/polyethylene glycol (PEG) hybrids, and the corresponding results are extensively discussed.

Sustainable Personal Protective Clothing for Healthcare Applications: A Review

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is critical to protect healthcare workers (HCWs) from highly infectious diseases such as COVID-19. However, hospitals have been at risk of running out of the safe and effective PPE including personal protective clothing needed to treat patients with COVID-19, due to unprecedented global demand. In addition, there are only limited manufacturing facilities of such clothing available worldwide, due to a lack of available knowledge about relevant technologies, ineffective supply chains, and stringent regulatory requirements. Therefore, there remains a clear unmet need for coordinating the actions and efforts from scientists, engineers, manufacturers, suppliers, and regulatory bodies to develop and produce safe and effective protective clothing using the technologies that are locally available around the world. In this review, we discuss currently used PPE, their quality, and the associated regulatory standards. We survey the current state-of-the-art antimicrobial functional finishes on fabrics to protect the wearer against viruses and bacteria and provide an overview of protective medical fabric manufacturing techniques, their supply chains, and the environmental impacts of current single-use synthetic fiber-based protective clothing. Finally, we discuss future research directions, which include increasing efficiency, safety, and availability of personal protective clothing worldwide without conferring environmental problems.

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from Curcuma longa L. and coating on the cotton fabrics for antimicrobial applications and wound healing activity

The cotton fabrics are a cosmopolitan in usage due to their extraordinary features. The clothes are a very good medium for the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. The nanoparticles have diverse benefits in the biomedical field like drug carrier and as antimicrobials. The current investigation was aimed to synthesize the metallic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from the aqueous extract of Curcuma longa leaf and evaluating their antimicrobial and wound healing potential of AgNPs coated cotton fabric. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by HR-TEM and FT-IR examinations. The formulated AgNPs were coated with cotton fabrics to test their efficiency against the pathogenic microorganisms. The existence of AgNPs in the cotton fabrics was confirmed via the SEM along with EDX analysis. The antimicrobial potential of fabricated AgNPs and its coated cotton fabrics was inspected against the human pathogenic strains. The wound healing efficacy was examined in the L929 cells. The HR-TEM analysis proved the existence of spherical shaped AgNPs. In the antimicrobial activity, the CL-AgNPs loaded cotton fabric was exhibited an appreciable decrease in the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. The crude extract, as well as formulated AgNPs, also exhibited the noticeable antimicrobial potency against the S.aureus, P.aeruginosa, S.pyogenes, and C.albicans. The AgNPs loaded cotton fabrics was displayed the potent wound healing activity in the fibroblast (L929) cells. Consequently, it was concluded that the formulated AgNPs from C.longa coated cotton fabrics may be utilized for the variety of applications in hospital patients and even medical workers to prevent the microbial infection.

Antimicrobial cellulosic textiles based on organic compounds

Healthy body is one of the principle requirements of human beings, but the highly rated growth of harmful pathogens has challenged researchers for investigation of antimicrobial reagents. Infection of textile materials is a result of microbial adherence on the surface, and it is one of the vital clinical complications, which causes a high rate of mortality. New challenges as well as new opportunities in manufacturing of antimicrobial cellulosic textiles are the future concerns for textile and apparel industry. The major applications of antimicrobial textile could be ascribed according consumer demands, represented in more comfort, easy care, health, and durable to laundering. Such numerous properties could be achieved by the development of innovative methodologies with various finishing agents. Thus, the current review introduced an overview for the application of recent organic antimicrobial reagents in cellulosic textile finishing. The organic reagents are classified into two main categories; natural (chitosan, cyclodextrins and natural dyes) and synthetic (quaternary ammonium salts, triclosan, halogenated phenols and metal organic frameworks). The interaction between cellulose and such reagents, biological action mechanisms and factors affecting biocidal actions are all presented. For improvement of the durability and mechanical properties, pre-activation of cellulosic textile or using of cross-linkers is properly performed.

Effective surface attachment of Ag nanoparticles on fibers using glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride and improvement of antimicrobial properties

Functional m-aramid fibers with antimicrobial properties by reaction of glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride with silver nanoparticles.

Antimicrobial Approaches for Textiles: From Research to Market

The large surface area and ability to retain moisture of textile structures enable microorganisms' growth, which causes a range of undesirable effects, not only on the textile itself, but also on the user. Due to the public health awareness of the pathogenic effects on personal hygiene and associated health risks, over the last few years, intensive research has been promoted in order to minimize microbes' growth on textiles. Therefore, to impart an antimicrobial ability to textiles, different approaches have been studied, being mainly divided into the inclusion of antimicrobial agents in the textile polymeric fibers or their grafting onto the polymer surface. Regarding the antimicrobial agents, different types have been used, such as quaternary ammonium compounds, triclosan, metal salts, polybiguanides or even natural polymers. Any antimicrobial treatment performed on a textile, besides being efficient against microorganisms, must be non-toxic to the consumer and to the environment. This review mainly intends to provide an overview of antimicrobial agents and treatments that can be performed to produce antimicrobial textiles, using chemical or physical approaches, which are under development or already commercially available in the form of isolated agents or textile fibers or fabrics.