Plasma Pretreatment and Digital Ink Jet Technology: A Tool for Long-Lasting Microbial Barrier on Cellulose Knitwear?

The purpose of this research was to analysed the influence of a plasma treatment on the surface properties of cellulose based knitwear, especially on the hydrophilicity of raw cotton material. The main goal of this research is to answer the question: is it possible to achieve long-lasting barrier of silver nanoparticles on treated substrate using digital textile printing, which aims to improve antimicrobial efficiency? It is certain that plasma pre-treatment increases the hydrophilic properties of textile materials and impacts the colour spectral parameters of printed area. An increase in the colour yield and fastness, as well as handle of ink jet printed samples was observed on plasma pre-treated sample materials. Antimicrobial analyses showed that the silver nanoparticles, as active compounds of antimicrobial agent, were partially blocked with polymer, which contributed to limiting effect of antimicrobial effectiveness, while the printed area of the sample exhibited better antimicrobial protection and visible inhibition zone was observed.