Antibacterial and eco-friendly textile finishes: the potential of natural organic acids

While cotton fabric is comfortable to wear, it is also a suitable substrate for bacterial growth. To prevent this, various antibacterial treatments are usually implemented during the finishing process. This study investigates the development of antibacterial cotton fabrics by testing different natural organic acids, namely caffeic acid (CA), gallic acid (GA), trans-ferulic acid (tFA), lactic acid (LA), L-ascorbic (L-AsA) and tartaric acid (TA), against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli according to the ASTM E2149-2013 standard method. The results indicated that the LA-, L-AsA- and TA-treated fabrics inhibited 95% more bacterial growth than the untreated cotton. To improve the adhesion of antibacterial agents to cotton fabrics and their wet-washing and dry-cleaning fastness, the three selected organic acids were combined with bio-based polymers to develop sustainable antibacterial coatings on cotton samples. The treated fabrics’ surface morphology and chemical composition were confirmed using SEM and FT-IR analyses. The antibacterial efficiency of the best-performing samples was further tested after the wet-washing and dry-cleaning. This research can lead to the development of a novel dry-cleaning-resistant and efficient antibacterial, eco-friendly cotton fabric, and provides a viable and promising prospect to produce the same on an industrial scale.