Abstract:

In order to improve the reduction capability of nano-silver by polyethyleneimine (PEI) and stabilize the nano-silver solution, a modification of PEI by chemical grafting was described in this paper. The mechanism of modified-polyethyleneimine (MPEI) was proposed, and its antibacterial application in finishing of cotton fabrics was studied. According to FT-IR, the carboxyl acid ion and the amide bond were introduced into PEI successfully by chemical reactions. XPS, UV-visible and particle size analysis showed that MPEI can not only can synthesize nano-silver efficiently, but also stabilize nano-silver solution for a month at least. TEM test indicated that nano-silver synthesized by MPEI contained ultra-small spherical nanoparticles with an average diameter of 2 nm and larger particles with a average diameter of 10 nm. Under conditions of room temperature and atmosphere pressure, the bacterial reduction rates of cotton fabrics treated with MPEI/nano-silver solution against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus reached 95%.

Key words: modified-polyethyleneimine, nano-silver, cotton fabric, antibacterial finishing