Highly efficient and durable antimicrobial nanocomposite textiles

Vinni Thekkudan Novi, Andrew Gonzalez, John W Brockgreitens, Abdennour Abbas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Healthcare associated infections cause millions of hospitalizations and cost billions of dollars every year. A potential solution to address this problem is to develop antimicrobial textile for healthcare fabrics (hospital bedding, gowns, lab coats, etc.). Metal nanoparticle-coated textile has been proven to possess antimicrobial properties but have not been adopted by healthcare facilities due to risks of leaching and subsequent loss of function, toxicity, and environmental pollution. This work presents the development and testing of antimicrobial zinc nanocomposite textiles, fabricated using a novel Crescoating process. In this process, zinc nanoparticles are grown in situ within the bulk of different natural and synthetic fabrics to form safe and durable nanocomposites. The zinc nanocomposite textiles show unprecedented microbial reduction of 99.99% (4 log10) to 99.9999% (6 log10) within 24 h on the most common Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and fungal pathogens. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activity remains intact even after 100 laundry cycles, demonstrating the high longevity and durability of the textile. Independent dermatological evaluation confirmed that the novel textile is non-irritating and hypoallergenic.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number17332
JournalScientific reports
Volume12
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for the financial support of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch project 1006789, and the Schwan Food Company Graduate Fellowship (A. Abbas), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention award # 75D30121C10530, the USDA Small Business Innovation Research grant #2020-33610-32483, and the US Army Department of Defense Small Business Technology Transfer grant #W911QY-19-P-0180 (Claros Technologies Inc.). The work presented here is the subject of an International Patent Application No. PCT/US2016/056850 and US Patent Application No. 63/123,814 “Antimicrobial and Antiviral Nanocomposite Sheets”.

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful for the financial support of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch project 1006789, and the Schwan Food Company Graduate Fellowship (A. Abbas), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention award # 75D30121C10530, the USDA Small Business Innovation Research grant #2020-33610-32483, and the US Army Department of Defense Small Business Technology Transfer grant #W911QY-19-P-0180 (Claros Technologies Inc.). The work presented here is the subject of an International Patent Application No. PCT/US2016/056850 and US Patent Application No. 63/123,814 “Antimicrobial and Antiviral Nanocomposite Sheets”.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

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