LAUSR

Multifunctional cotton fabric with excellent antibacterial efficiency and enhanced durable self-cleaning activity was introduced as a novel substrate with potential benefit for hosting various compounds such as drugs and pollutants providing medical and environmental remediation applications. For this purpose, Ag/TiO2/β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) nanocomposites was synthesized and deposited on cotton fabric using three different methods namely exhaustion, pad-dry-cure and in-situ synthesis, following by post-treatment with citric acid and sodium hypophosphite. The samples were analyzed by different characterization tests including FESEM, EDX, XRD and FTIR. Response surface methodology based on one factor design was applied to study the influence of β-CD:Ag+ molar ratio and treatment method on self-cleaning activity, obtaining the optimized condition. Exhaustion method was found as the best technique providing maximum nanocomposites adsorption and self-cleaning properties based on statistical analysis. The optimized sample possessed enhanced self-cleaning properties toward methylene blue degradation, excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, maximum chrome ion adsorption, slightly increased tensile strength and crease recovery angle.