Fabrication of Antimicrobial Textiles by Roll-to-Roll Electroless Plating

最近纺织制造业的技术进步集中在各种功能和智能纺织品的生产上，其中抗菌纺织品找到了一个利基市场。在适当的温度、湿度和营养条件下，纺织品往往容易受到微生物生长的影响。因此，抗菌纺织品已成为一种必需品，特别是在个人防护装备或个人防护用品、运动服和空气过滤器等关键应用中。然而，目前的抗菌剂和制造技术存在一个或多个关键限制，例如，抗菌活性低、耐用性差、缺乏制造可扩展性。这笔赠款支持基础研究，以弥补在可扩展制造具有高活性和耐用性的新型抗菌纺织品方面的知识差距。该项目为经济地生产抗菌个人防护设备和空气过滤器建立了新的范例，以应对当前的新冠肺炎大流行和未来的公共卫生危机。该项目为其他功能性纺织品的生产提供了可转让的知识。该项目的成果促进了科学的进步，有利于美国纺织业、经济、国民健康和福利。此外，这一多学科项目涉及材料科学、化学、纳米技术和制造科学，并为妇女和代表性不足的少数族裔学生提供研究机会。综合教育和外展活动促进了对K-12、本科生和研究生的工程教育。银纳米颗粒已被研究为具有前景的防护性纺织品抗菌剂。然而，要实现实用的低成本和规模化的银纳米功能化纺织品的制造，对一系列关键因素仍缺乏基本的了解，包括纳米颗粒与织物之间的非均质相互作用，纳米颗粒性能的工程，以及允许大规模生产的制造工艺。为了获得这些基础知识，该项目通过将纳米银的化学镀与卷对卷制造相结合，对生产纳米银装饰纺织品的连续和可扩展的生产过程进行了基础研究。这项研究在以下方面产生了新的知识：(1)在生物相容分子(如聚多巴胺)的辅助下，纳米银的界面成核，聚多巴胺作为粘合剂和还原剂，在不同的纺织品表面化学镀过程中促进纳米银的生长；(2)纳米银在纺织品上的生长机理，以优化抗菌效力；以及(3)织物材料和结构如何影响卷筒式涂层质量。研究任务包括为工艺构建、晶体生长分析、材料合成和表征以及抗菌性能测试进行系统的实验设计。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Recent technological advancements in textile manufacturing has focused on the production of various functional and smart textiles, among which antimicrobial textiles have found a niche. Textiles are often substrates susceptible to microbial growth under appropriate temperature, humidity, and nutrient conditions. Therefore, antimicrobial textiles have become a necessity, especially for critical applications such as personal protective equipment or PPE, sportwear and air filters. However, current antimicrobial agents and manufacturing technologies suffer from one or more key limitations, for example, low antimicrobial activity, poor durability, and lack of manufacturing scalability. This grant supports fundamental research to bridge the knowledge gap in scalable manufacturing of novel antimicrobial textiles with high activity and durability. This project establishes a new paradigm for the economical production of antimicrobial personal protective equipment and air filters in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic and future public health crises. This project provides transferable knowledge for the manufacturing of other functional textiles. The results from this project promote the progress of science and benefit the U.S. textile industry, economy, national health and welfare. Furthermore, this multidisciplinary project involves material science, chemistry, nanotechnology and manufacturing science and provides research opportunities for women and underrepresented minority students. The integrated education and outreach activities promote engineering education for K-12, undergraduate and graduate students.Silver nanoparticles have been researched as promising antimicrobial agents for protective textile applications. However, to realize practical low-cost and large-scale manufacturing of silver nanoparticle-functionalized textiles, fundamental understanding is still lacking on a series of key factors, including the heterogeneous interactions between the nanoparticle and fabrics, the engineering of the nanoparticle properties, and the manufacturing process that allows for mass production. To gain such basic knowledge, this project performs fundamental investigations into a continuous and scalable production process toward the manufacturing of silver nanoparticle-decorated textiles, by integrating electroless plating of silver nanoparticles with roll-to-roll manufacturing. The research generates new knowledge in (1) interfacial nucleation of silver nanoparticles assisted with biocompatible molecules such as polydopamine, which functions as an adhesive and reducing agent to facilitate the growth of the silver nanoparticles during electroless plating on different textile surfaces; (2) the growth mechanisms of silver nanoparticles on textiles for optimized antimicrobial potency; and (3) how fabric materials and structures impact the roll-to-roll coating quality. Research tasks involve systematic design of experiments for process construction, crystal growth analysis, materials synthesis and characterization, and antimicrobial performance testing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.