Coating a cationic antibacterial layer on the surface of cotton fabric is an effective strategy to provide it with excellent antibacterial properties and to protect humans from bacterial cross-infection. However, washing with anionic detergent will inactivate the cationic antibacterial coating. Although this problem can be solved by increasing the amount of cationic antibacterial coating, excessive cationic antibacterial coating reduces the drapability of cotton fabric and affects the comfort of wearing it. In this study, a coordinated antibacterial coating strategy based on quaternary ammonium salt and a halogenated amine compound was designed. The results show that the antibacterial effect of the modified cotton fabric was significantly improved. In addition, after mechanically washing the fabric 50 times in the presence of anionic detergent, the antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli was still more than 95%. Furthermore, the softness of the obtained cotton fabric showed little change compared with the untreated cotton fabric. This easy-to-implement and cost-effective approach, combined with the cationic contact and the release effect of antibacterial agents, can endow cotton textiles with durable antibacterial properties and excellent wearability.
Keywords: antibacterial; chemical modification; cotton fabrics; durable.