Antimicrobial textile prepared by silver deposition on dielectric barrier discharge treated cotton/polyester fabric

The objective of this research was to impart the additional value on cotton/ /polyester (Co/PES) fabrics (i.e. antimicrobial properties) to improve the quality of life and thus to tap new markets with the product. In this paper, silver ions were incorporated in Co/PES fabrics by chemisorptions into the fabric pre- viously treated in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). A series of the DBD fab- ric treatments were done in order to determine the most suitable experimental conditions for the DBD activation of the fabric surface, while the optimal con- ditions for silver ions sorption by Co/PES fabrics were determined by changing sorption conditions. The antimicrobial Co/PES fabrics prepared by dielectric barrier discharge mediated silver deposition show an antimicrobial activity against tested pathogens: S. aureus, E. coli, and C. albicans under in vitro conditions. The obtained results confirm the practicability of the plasma modifi- cation process and furthermore show that with some delays in the next step, i.e. silver ion sorption, we can get the increase in the amount of the sorbed silver ions; the maximum sorption capacity of modified Co/PES fabrics was 0.135 mmol of Ag + ions per gram of a fabric.