Chitosan immobilized cotton fibres for antibacterial textile materials

Abstract

This paper reports the fabrication of natural, biodegradable, disposable and low cost clothing with antibacterial activity. Chitosan has been successfully immobilized on woven cotton with the help of natural rubber latex. The water contact angle studies reveal increased hydrophilicity of the samples with increase in chitosan concentration. The as prepared materials exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Due to the electrostatic interaction between chitosan and bacterial surface, the chitosan immobilized samples exhibited clear inhibition zones. This study invokes the possibility of fabrication of medical textiles with antibacterial properties by simple processing of woven cotton materials.