Multifunctional leather finishing vs. applications, through the addition of well-dispersed flower-like nanoparticles

Francesca Fierro; Mariagrazia Iuliano; Claudia Cirillo; Claudia Florio; Gaetano Maffei; Andrea Loi; Todor Batakliev; Renata Adami; Maria Sarno

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-51775-4

Multifunctional leather finishing vs. applications, through the addition of well-dispersed flower-like nanoparticles

Sci Rep. 2024 Jan 25;14(1):2163. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-51775-4.

Authors

Francesca Fierro^#^{1

2}, Mariagrazia Iuliano^#^{2

3}, Claudia Cirillo^#^{4

5}, Claudia Florio⁶, Gaetano Maffei⁷, Andrea Loi⁸, Todor Batakliev⁹, Renata Adami¹, Maria Sarno^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics "E.R. Caianiello", University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084, Fisciano, SA, Italy.
² Centre NANO_MATES, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084, Fisciano, SA, Italy.
³ Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084, Fisciano, SA, Italy.
⁴ Department of Physics "E.R. Caianiello", University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084, Fisciano, SA, Italy. clcirillo@unisa.it.
⁵ Centre NANO_MATES, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084, Fisciano, SA, Italy. clcirillo@unisa.it.
⁶ Stazione Sperimentale per l'Industria delle Pelli e delle materie concianti-SSIP (Italian National Leather Research Institute), Comprensorio Olivetti, Via Campi Flegrei, 34, 80078, Pozzuoli, NA, Italy.
⁷ Conceria DMD SOLOFRA Spa, Via Celentane, 9, 83029, Solofra, AV, Italy.
⁸ Mario Levi Italia s.r.l., Via Arzignano, 130, 36072, ChiampoVI, Italy.
⁹ Open Laboratory on Experimental Micro and Nano Mechanics (OLEM), Institute of Mechanics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., Block 4, 1113, Sofia, Bulgaria.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

In the present paper, multifunctional flower-like nanoparticles were synthesized to be used in the leather finishing. They are capable of conferring simultaneously and synergistic antimicrobial, self-cleaning, light resistance, hydrophobic, mechanical, thermal, and fluorescent properties due to the presence of Ag, TiO₂, and SiO₂ NPs. These nanoparticles form a "flower-like" structure in which the "pistil" is made up of TiO₂ and the "petals" that surround it of silver nanoparticles and silica nanoparticles, whose dimensions are of the order of ten nanometers. Their surfaces enjoy abundant hydrophilic functionalities to be dispersed within inks commonly used during the leather finishing process. Leathers functionalized with these nanomaterials showed significantly improved self-cleaning properties after 15 h of exposure to UV light, and antibacterial properties 10 times higher than that shown by the untreated samples. Aging tests were performed (ISO 105-B02, ISO 17228, SAEJ 2412). ΔE, color variation decreased by approximately 30%, if compared with samples not refined with flower-like NPs. Furthermore, the results of the mechanical tests (ISO 17076, FCA 50444) evidence amazing properties, e.g. abrasion resistance more than significantly improved, increase in resistance from 1500 cycles for the untreated samples to 3000 cycles for the leathers finished with flower-like NPs. The contact angle analysis, capturing the angle that traces the air-water to water-substrate interface from the origin of the air-water-substrate contact point at the edge, is practically unchanged after 10 s in the case of nanoparticles containing finishing.