Common and nano-antimicrobial textile finishes

Abstract

Antimicrobial textile finishes have received great attention since the textile surfaces are quite susceptible to microbial attack under appropriate conditions for the growth of microorganisms. Various antimicrobial textile finishes with synthetic agents (polyhexamethylenebiguanide (PHMB), quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), metals (metal oxides and salts), triclosan, N-halamines and peroxy acids) and natural agents (chitosan, alginate, herbal products, essential oils, natural dyes, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and sericin) have commonly been applied to date. The effects can be durable or nondurable depending on the killing or inhibiting mechanism of the antimicrobial agents. Besides the common applied antimicrobial finishes, many nanotechnological methods have also been introduced. Nanosized antimicrobial agents enable more advantages and effectiveness than common antimicrobial agents due to their size, shape, surface area and morphological structures. In this chapter, common and nano-antimicrobial textile finishes, synthetic and natural antimicrobial agents and their inhibiting or killing mechanisms against the microorganisms have been reviewed. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.