Water and Oil Repellent Finishing of Textiles by UV Curing: Evaluation of the Influence of Scaled-Up Process Parameters
In this work, various textile fabrics were coated with silicone and fluorocarbon-based resins by photo-curing using ultraviolet irradiation. A great number of large fabric samples were impregnated by padding with commercial finishing agents and then irradiated in air with a high power, semi-industrial UV source. The add-on of various finishing agents was kept low to reduce the treatment cost. White and dyed samples of different textile composition were treated and evaluated in terms of conferred repellency, yellowing, or color changes. Most relevant process parameters were investigated, utilizing the thermal process normally adopted at industrial level as reference. The results were statistically evaluated by ANOVA using Minitab 16 software, in order to identify the most influential parameters and to evaluate the real possibility of replacing the thermal treatment with UV curing.
Recent Advances in Soft E-Textiles
E-textiles (electronic textiles) are fabrics that possesses electronic counterparts and electrical interconnects knitted into them, offering flexibility, stretchability, and a characteristic length scale that cannot be accomplished using other electronic manufacturing methods currently available. However, knitting is only one of the technologies in e-Textile integration. Other technologies, such as sewing, embroidery, and even single fiber-based manufacture technology, are widely employed in next-generation e-textiles. Components and interconnections are barely visible since they are connected intrinsically to soft fabrics that have attracted the attention of those in the fashion and textile industries. These textiles can effortlessly acclimatize themselves to the fast-changing wearable electronic markets with digital, computational, energy storage, and sensing requirements of any specific application. This mini-review focuses on recent advances in the field of e-textiles and focuses particularly on the materials and their functionalities.
Single step formation of biocompatible bimetallic alloy nanoparticles of gold and silver using isonicotinylhydrazide.
Manufacturing nanoparticles with controlled physicochemical properties using environment-friendly routes have potential to open new prospects for a variety of applications. Accordingly, several approaches have been established for manufacturing metal nanoparticles. Many of these approaches entail the use of hazardous chemicals and could be toxic to the environment, and cannot be used readily for biomedical applications. In the present work, we report a single step bio-friendly approach to formulate gold (Au), silver (Ag), and Au-Ag alloy nanoparticles with desired surface corona and composition using isonicotinylhydrazide (INH) as a reducing agent. INH also functioned as a stabilizing agent by enabling a surface corona around the nanoparticles. Remarkably, within a single step INH could also provide a handle in regulating the composition of Au and Ag in bimetallic systems without any additional chemical modification. The physicochemical and surface properties of the different nanoparticles thus obtained have been examined by analytical, spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Cell cytotoxicity (release of lactate dehydrogenase), cell viability and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) assays confirmed that the Au, Ag, and Au-Ag bimetallic nanoparticles prepared with INH are biocompatible. Finally, the presence of organic surface corona of INH on the nanoparticles was found to impart nanozyme activity and antimycobacterial sensitivity to the nanoparticles.