Cinnamon and Eucalyptus Extracts: A Promising Natural Approach for Durable Mosquito-Repellent Fabrics with Multifunctionality

Mosquitoes are highly important carriers of diseases, such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and various other life-threatening illnesses. Traditionally, many chemicals, such as plant extracts, oils, and smoke, have been employed for the purpose of repelling mosquitoes. Various plants possess essential oils and chemicals that have been proven to be good insect repellents and are commonly regarded as weeds. The present study focused on the development of eco-friendly, nonhazardous mosquito-repellent fabrics using cinnamon and eucalyptus extracts. First, eucalyptus and cinnamon extracts were produced separately using ethanol and water as solvents with and without heating. Forty-eight different fabric samples were prepared by applying these extracts at three levels of process application temperature. A steam dye bath sampling machine was utilized to execute the extraction application process on fabric samples. The mosquito repellency performances of all of the samples were evaluated using the cage test method. The cage test revealed that all of the samples of eucalyptus and cinnamon extract-applied fabrics showed mosquito repellency performance at some level. However, the fabric samples treated with the heated extract of eucalyptus ethanol (EE-H) at 60 °C showed the best results in terms of mosquito repellency (85.56%) among all combinations. In addition to repellency, the impact of washing durability, UV shielding, and antibacterial performance was also evaluated. This research demonstrated a new method for creating a fabric that repels mosquitoes and has effective antibacterial properties as well as promising ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) rating. This fabric protects the wearer from the significant health risks posed by mosquitoes and harmful UV radiation while also maintaining its cleanliness. Moreover, the utilization and implementation of plant-derived coatings on textiles contribute to the advancement of sustainable methods (SDG 9 and SDG 12) in the chemical processing industry of textiles, ultimately leading to a reduction in their environmental footprint.