Antimicrobial Dyeing of Cotton and Silk Fabrics Using Houttuynia cordata Extract

Cotton and silk fabrics were dyed with Houttuynia cordata extract using aqueous ethanol solution and the dyeing and post-treatment conditions were optimized to impart antimicrobial activity to the fabrics. The dried Houttuynia cordata can be extracted at for 3 hours using an aqueous ethanol solution containing 70%(w/w) ethanol. For the highest color yields. Both cotton and silk fabrics can be dyed at for 60min with 10g/L of NaCl under pH 4. Silk fabrics can be dyed to higher K/S than cotton fabrics. The color fastness properties of the dyed fabrics were good when either citric acid crosslinking or aluminum alum mordanting was carried out as a post treatment. The dyed silk and cotton fabrics with the post treatments showed excellent antimicrobial activity against both Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae.