Facile Approach for Preparing Printed Cotton Fabric with Antimicrobial Activity by Utilizing the Functional Characteristics of Nano-Silver.

The principal goal of this research revolves around imparting antimicrobial activities on printed cotton fabric utilizing silver nanoparticles. Two colorants, dyes, and pigments are used for printing of 100% scoured and bleached cotton, fabric, and both fabrics are assessed to get antimicrobial activity of printed cloth. Screen-printing techniques are used here to apply the pigment and reactive dye onto the fabric. The outcomes of the study reflect that the addition of silver nanoparticles to the reactive dye-printed and pigment-printed fabric significantly decreases bacterial growth up to 99.99%. In addition, Silver nanoparticles increase color intensity by around 25% in pigment printing, however, reduce it in reactive printing. Both methods enhance color fastness by increasing resistance to fading, staining, and rubbing. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis reveals that the print paste and sodium alginate have an impact on the distribution of nanoparticles. Through X-ray diffraction (XRD), it has been determined that the sample maintains a crystalline form and an average size of 29.185 nm of silver nanoparticles. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis indicates no notable molecular-level alterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]