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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #245760
Title: Synthesis of silver nanoparticles in textile finish aqueous system and their antimicrobial properties on cotton fibers

Author
item Nam, Sunghyun
item Parikh, Dharnidhar
item Condon, Brian

Submitted to: Fiber Society Meeting
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/15/2009
Publication Date: 10/28/2009
Citation: Nam, S., Parikh, D.V., Condon, B.D. 2009. Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles in Textile Finish Aqueous System and Their Antimicrobial Properties on Cotton Fibers. In Proceedings: Fiber Society Meeting. 2p.

Interpretive Summary: Cotton is highly susceptible to microbial attack such as bacteria, fungi, and molds. Among textile antimicrobials, silver nanoparticle (NP) is gaining considerable attention due to its effectiveness, but the synthetic methods reported to date rely on chemical solution processes involving the use of toxic reducing agents and organic solvents. The objective of this study is to develop ‘green’ and facile method, which can directly apply to cotton fibers. We successfully produced monodisperse silver NPs, ca. 2 nm in diameter, in an aqueous solution of high-molecular-weight poly(ethylene glycol) (100 kg/mol). These silver NPs applied onto cotton fibers showed excellent antimicrobial activity against both S. aureus and K. pneumonia. This study will contribute in producing antimicrobial cotton textile products with an environmentally friendly manner.

Technical Abstract: Silver nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by a simple and environmentally benign procedure using poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) as reducing agent and stabilizer in the textile finish aqueous system, and their antimicrobial properties on greige (mechanically cleaned) and bleached cotton fibers were investigated. UV-Vis spectra and TEM micrographs showed that high-molecular-weight PEG (100 kg/mol, PEG 100) generated higher formation of silver NP than low-molecular-weight PEG (2 kg/mol, PEG 2), although it has low reducing reactivity. This is attributed to the controlled aggregation and growth of silver atoms to NP by long polymer chains in solution. The NPs obtained from PEG 100 were spherical, and well-dispersed with a diameter of ca. 2 nm. These nano-sized particles having large surface area were efficiently loaded on cotton fiber surface to exhibit excellent antimicrobial activity against both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumonia).