Developing nanotechnology-based textiles for skin protection against UVradiation

To protect against the influence of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation from daily life and evenchanges in climate and stratospheric ozone, wearing UV-protective clothing is an effectiveapproach to reduce skin damages from excessive UV exposure. So, the aim of this study wasto develop nanotechnology-based textiles for skin protection against UV radiation.In this study, the concentration 2wt.% of ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) were used to treatthe cotton textiles (100% cotton) by using pad-dry-cure method. In order to increase theadsorption of ZnO-NPs, once surface activation was provided with low pressure plasma andanother time, the textiles were treated in presence of Citric acid (3wt.%) as a cross-linker.Characteristics of ZnO NPs were identified by UV–Vis spectroscopy, field emission scanningelectron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier infrared transformationspectroscopy (FTIR). Also, morphological changes of the textiles were evaluated by usingSEM-EDC and FTIR. Finally, ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) was calculated based onspectroscopy data.The XRD pattern confirmed peaks assigned for ZnO-NPs. UV–Vis spectroscopy showed apeak absorbance in 363nm for ZnO-NPs. Also, ZnO-NPs had the spherical shape with anaverage size of 40.95 ± 9.27nm. The FTIR spectra verified the existence of the functionalgroups of O–H, C=O, C=C and C-F. UPF for untreated textiles, treated textiles with crosslinkerand treated textiles with plasma was 35.1, 183 and 404, respectively. These resultsshowed that the highest UPF values were obtained when samples were treated by plasmaThese results show that the treated cotton textiles have excellent protection categories whencompared to untreated cotton textiles. Also, high UPF values have belonged to the textilessurface functionalization upon plasma treatment, due to the increased adsorption of ZnO NPs.

Developing nanotechnology-based textiles for skin protection against UVradiation Keywords:

Nanotechnology , UV radiation , Skin protection , Textiles , ZnO nanoparticles