Durable antibacterial finish on cotton fabrics with PAMAM/Ag+

Cotton fabric with excellent antibacterial properties was obtained by treated with polyamide-amine (PAMAM) dendrimers as a carrier and silver nitrate as an antibacterial agent. The antibacterial cotton fabrics were prepared by the methods of one-bath process and two-bath process. Antibacterial activity of cotton fabrics treated by two different methods was good, but the antibacterial durability of cotton fabric treated with two-bath process was better than that treated with one-bath process. After 50 washing cycles, cotton fabric treated with two-bath process still had good antibacterial property and its inhibitory rate to Gram-positive S. aureus and Gram-negative E. coli was over 99 %. It was found that the breaking strength retention of finished cotton fabrics was 85.83 % and the decrease of cotton fabrics' whiteness index was about 15 %.