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Towards the goal of developing scalable, economical and effective antimicrobial textiles to reduce infection transmission, here we prepared color-variable photodynamic materials comprised of photosensitizer (PS)-loaded wool/acrylic (W/A) blends. Wool fibers in the W/A blended fabrics were loaded with the photosensitizer rose bengal (RB), and the acrylic fibers were dyed with a variety of traditional cationic dyes (cationic yellow, cationic blue and cationic red) to broaden their color range. Investigations on the colorimetric and photodynamic properties of a series of these materials were implemented through CIELab evaluation, as well as photooxidation and antibacterial studies. Generally, the photodynamic efficacy of these dual-dyed fabrics was impacted by both the choice, and how much of the traditional cationic dye was employed in the dyeing of the W/A fabrics. When compared with the PS-only singly-dyed material, RB-W/A, that showed a 99.97% (3.5 log units; p = 0.02) reduction of Staphylococcus aureus under visible light illumination (λ ≥ 420 nm, 60 min), the addition of cationic dyes led to a slight decrease in the photoinactivation ability of the dual-dyed fabrics, but was still able to achieve a 99.3% inactivation of S. aureus. Overall, our findings demonstrate the feasibility and potential applications of low cost and color variable RB-loaded W/A blended fabrics as effective self-disinfecting textiles against pathogen transmission.

The commonly used preparation methods of polypropylene functionalization require special equipment to be put into use or take a long time, which limits its application. Therefore, a simple and economical method for preparing silver functionalized nonwoven polypropylene membrane was studied herein. Triethanolamine was first coated on the surface of the polypropylene, and then Ag was deposited on the surface of polypropylene using a continuous reduction reaction of triethanolamine and silver ions. Surface morphology, crystal structure, and surface chemistry during the preparation of Ag functionalized nonwoven polypropylene were investigated. The electrical conductivity, electromagnetic shielding properties, and washing durability of the treated nonwoven polypropylene were also studied. It was found that Ag was uniformly deposited on the surface of the nonwoven polypropylene, and the coating reaction did not change the chemical structure of the polypropylene. The crystallinity and thermal stability of polypropylene were improved after silver coated polypropylene. The washing experiment results showed that the weight gain rate of the treated nonwoven relative to the untreated sample after the 90 min washing ranged from 6.72% to 9.64%. The resistance test results showed that the maximum surface resistivity of Ag coated nonwoven polypropylene was about 1.95 × 105 Ω, which was 64,615 times lower than the original. In addition, the results showed that the maximum electromagnetic shielding effectiveness of the Ag coated nonwoven polypropylene was about 71.6 dB, showing a very good electromagnetic shielding effect.

In this study, a novel green adsorbent material prepared by the esterification of bacterial cellulose (BC) and graphene oxide (GO), richly containing hydroxyl, alkyl, and carboxylate groups was characterised by FTIR (Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (Scanning electron microscopy) and TGA (Thermo-graphimetric analysis). The specific surface area (SSA) and pore size distribution (PSD) analysis of materials were also analysed. Batch experiments–adsorption studies confirmed the material to have a very high Pb2+ removal efficiency of over 90% at pH 6–8. Kinetic studies showed that the uptake of metal ions was rapid with equilibrium attained after 30 min and fitted well with the pseudo-second-order rate model (PSO). Isotherm results with a maximum adsorption capacity (Qmax) of 303.03 mg/g were well described by Langmuir’s model compared to Freundlich. Desorption and re-adsorption experiments realised that both adsorbent and adsorbates could be over 90–95% efficiently recovered and reused using 0.1 M HNO3 and 0.1 M HCl.

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning and they were modified with hydroxylamine to synthesize amidoxime polyacrylonitrile (AOPAN) chelating nanofibers, which were applied to adsorb copper and iron ions. The conversion of the nitrile group in PAN was calculated by the gravimetric method. The structure and surface morphology of the AOPAN nanofiber were characterized by a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) and a scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The adsorption abilities of Cu2+ and Fe3+ ions onto the AOPAN nanofiber mats were evaluated. FT-IR spectra showed nitrile groups in the PAN were partly converted into amidoxime groups. SEM examination demonstrated that there were no serious cracks or sign of degradation on the surface of the PAN nanofibers after chemical modification. The adsorption capacities of both copper and iron ions onto the AOPAN nanofiber mats were higher than those into the raw PAN nanofiber mats. The adsorption data of Cu2+ and Fe3+ ions fitted particularly well with the Langmuir isotherm. The maximal adsorption capacities of Cu2+ and Fe3+ ions were 215.18 and 221.37 mg/g, respectively.

The cost and efficiency of preparing ZnO/Ag composite functional polyester membrane affect their application, for which a rapid microwave-assisted method was studied for coating ZnO/Ag composite nanoparticles on polyester nonwoven. The surface morphology, crystalline structure, and surface chemistry of the uncoated and coated polyester nonwoven was investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric (TG), respectively. Washing stability, ultraviolet properties, and antibacterial properties of before and after treatment polyester nonwoven were also investigated. The results indicated that Ag/ZnO composite nanoparticles were successfully deposited on polyester nonwoven surface. The amount of silver nitrate added in reaction has an important effect on the morphology and structure of Ag/ZnO composite on the surface of polyester fiber. The washing experiment results show that the ZnO/Ag composite functional polyester nonwoven fabric prepared by this method exhibits good washing durability after 90 min of washing. The results of UV transmission analysis showed that polyester nonwoven has an obvious increase in ultraviolet resistant properties after Ag/ZnO composite coating. When 0.2 g of silver nitrate was added into 100 mL of the reaction solution, the mean ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) of the treated polyester nonwoven reached a maximum of 219.8. The antibacterial results showed that the coated nonwoven against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was about 94.5% and 96.6%, respectively, showing very good antibacterial properties.

Al/TiO2 composite film was successfully deposited on polyester fabrics by using magnetron sputtering techniques. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to examine the deposited films on the fabrics, and the structural colors and anti-ultraviolet property of fabrics were also analyzed. The results indicated that polyester fabrics coated with Al/TiO2 composite films achieved structural colors. The reactive sputtering times of TiO2 films in Al/TiO2 composite films were 10 min, 12 min, 18 min, 20 min, 26 min, 27 min, 30 min and 45 min, respectively, the colors of corresponding fabrics were bluish violet, blue, cyan, green, yellow, yellowish red, orange and blue-green, which was consistent with the principle of the thin film interference. The structure of the TiO2 film in Al/TiO2 composite films was non-crystalline, though the fabrics were heated and maintained at the temperature of 200 °C. The anti-ultraviolet property of the fabrics deposited with Al/TiO2 composite films were excellent because of the effect of Al/TiO2 composite films.

Carbon xerogel-zinc oxide (CXZnO) composites were synthesized by a simple method of sol-gel condensation polymerization of formaldehyde and resorcinol solution containing zinc salt followed by drying and thermal treatment. ZnO nanoparticles were observed to be evenly dispersed on the surfaces of the carbon xerogel microspheres. The as-prepared CXZnO composites were mixed with laccase (Lac) and Nafion to obtain a mixture solution, which was further modified on an electrode surface to construct a novel biosensing platform. Finally, the prepared electrochemical biosensor was employed to detect the environmental pollutant, catechol. The analysis result was satisfactory, the sensor showed excellent electrocatalysis towards catechol with high sensitivity (31.2 µA·mM−1), a low detection limit (2.17 µM), and a wide linear range (6.91–453 µM). Moreover, the biosensor also displayed favorable repeatability, reproducibility, selectivity, and stability besides being successfully used in the trace detection of catechol existing in lake water environments.

Novel nanocomposites comprised of bacterial cellulose (BC) with carboxylic multi-walled carbon nanotubes (c-MWCNTs) incorporated into the BC matrix were prepared through a simple method of biosynthesis. The biocathode and bioanode for the enzyme biological fuel cell (EBFC) were prepared using BC/c-MWCNTs composite injected by laccase (Lac) and glucose oxidase (GOD) with the aid of glutaraldehyde (GA) crosslinking. Biosynthesis of BC/c-MWCNTs composite was characterized by digital photos, scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The experimental results indicated the successful incorporation of c-MWCNTs into the BC. The electrochemical and biofuel performance were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The power density and current density of EBFCs were recorded at 32.98 µW/cm3 and 0.29 mA/cm3, respectively. Additionally, the EBFCs also showed acceptable stability. Preliminary tests on double cells indicated that renewable BC have great potential in the application field of EBFCs.

A superfine Li0.33La0.557TiO3 (LLTO, 69.4 nm) was successfully synthesized by a facile solvent-thermal method to enhance the electrochemical properties of the lithium-ion battery separator. Co-axial nanofiber of cellulose and Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) was prepared by a co-axial electrospinning technique, in which the shell material was PVDF-HFP and the core was cellulose. LLTO superfine nanoparticles were incorporated into the shell of the PVDF-HFP. The core–shell composite nanofibrous membrane showed good wettability (16.5°, contact angle), high porosity (69.77%), and super electrolyte compatibility (497%, electrolyte uptake). It had a higher ionic conductivity (13.897 mS·cm−1) than those of pure polymer fibrous membrane and commercial separator. In addition, the rate capability (155.56 mAh·g−1) was also superior to the compared separator. These excellent performances endowed LLTO composite nanofibrous membrane as a promising separator for high-performance lithium-ion batteries.