Journal of Materials Chemistry Blog

Scientists in Israel, Spain and the UK have developed an enzymatic pre-treatment to enhance the antibacterial activity and stability of ZnO nanoparticles coated onto cotton. ZnO nanoparticles are less toxic to human cells than silver– which is one of the materials currently used to make antibacterial fabrics. ZnO nanoparticles can protect the wearer against UV rays.

The pre-treatment means that the by modifying the cotton itself with cellulase, the nanoparticles are embedded for longer. The cotton remained antibacterial up to 10 laundry cycles. Read the article for free until 30^th May.

Enzymatic pre-treatment as a means of enhancing the antibacterial activity and stability of ZnO nanoparticles sonochemically coated on cotton fabrics: Ilana Perelshtein, Yelena Ruderman, Nina Perkas, Kamelia Traeger, Tzanko Tzanov, Jamie Beddow, Eadaoin Joyce, Timothy J. Mason, María Blanes, Korina Mollá and Aharon Gedanken, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/C2JM31054F (Advance Article)

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