Abstract:

In order to give antimicrobial properties to textiles, silver is more and more often used because of its wide spectrum of activity. Silver can be incorporated into textiles with the use of different methods: in the production process of chemical fibres or in the final product through its chemical modification. In this paper, a new method based on the precipitation of metallic silver on a textile surface as a result of the photochemical reaction of deposited compounds is shown. The results obtained for modified textiles using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Vis spectroscopy and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) confirmed the presence of metallic silver on the textile surface. The size of metallic silver particles precipitated on the product surface modified was determined using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The results of microbiological tests (diffusion agar test) confirmed the effectiveness of the method elaborated with respect to microbiological resistance against a wide spectrum of bacteria and fungi. The simplicity of the method elaborated and the possibility of its application in textile plants equipped with a standard finishing device are emphasised.