ECOFRIENDLY AND NATURAL ANTIMICROBIAL FINISHES FOR TEXTILES

Abstract

 Textile fabrics made of natural fibres such as cotton, wool, silk etc. are liable to microbial attack and as a result they are found risky for various health and hygienic applications as well as for daily use. Therefore, there are researches going on in various dimension for preparation of anti-microbial textiles. Other than conventional methods of preparation of the same by treating textiles with some inorganic agents like CuCl_2, quaternary ammonium salts, halamines etc. there aresustainable method by coating textiles with natural bio-extracts such as neem, aloe vera, tulshi etc. as well as most recently, coating with conductive polymers like polypyrrole, polyaniline etc. and which are found very promising as a sustainable and green approach.