Design and Development of Surgical Gown using Red Seaweed Extract for Hygienic Textiles

Abstract

The drastic growth in the area of technical textiles and their end-use in healthcare and hygienic textiles create numerous opportunities for the application of novel finishing agents. Novel finishing agents with improved functionality act as natural antimicrobial agents will help to reduce the adverse effects caused by microbes and it is used for several end applications particularly in the barrier material and infection control. The present study was to develop the surgical gown and investigate the presence of bioactive compounds present in the Acanthophora Spicifera seaweed and analysis the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the extract and the treated fabrics using DPPH scavenging activity, disc diffusion, and ENISO20645 test methods. The extractobtained from red seaweed is applied to the bamboo fabric using the pad-dry-cure method for making surgical gown material. The test result shows that the maximum antibacterial activity of the 28mm inhibition zone was observed and the maximum antioxidant inhibition percentage of 77 ±0.17%for both extract and treated fabrics.The presence of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, tannins, phenols, saponins, and Anthocyanins in the herbal extract was analyzed by using Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and the functional group present in the herbal extract was analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared Radiation Spectroscopy (FTIR). The physical and comfort properties like air permeability, tensile strength, tearing strength, and wicking behaviour of the treated fabrics were decreases compared to untreated fabrics.Thetreated fabrics are used for a variety of medical applications such as gloves, surgical drapes, wound healing,operation room table covers, and face masks for hygienic and healthcare textiles.