Investigation of the oxidative self- polymerization of dopamine under alkaline conditions on wool fabrics

Most studies about polydopamine in the textile field have been related to cotton fibers. There are not many studies about the use of polydopamine on wool fibers. A limited number of studies have focused on the coloring of wool, whereas wool is the fiber with the highest variety of intermolecular attraction forces among all natural and man-made fibers. Polydopamine contains high amounts of catechol and amine functional groups due to its structure. In this study, different from the literature, oxidative self-polymerization of dopamine was achieved on wool fabric for different periods of time, and the coated fabrics were examined with characterization tests and spectrophotometrically. In this study, lower values were obtained than lightness (L*) values reported for other fibers in previous studies, and it was concluded that the wool-PDA interaction is superior to other fibers. Scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results showed that the polymerization and nano-coating formed successfully and continued to remain on the surface after washing. The lowest lightness value was obtained in the 32 h coating. However, the lowest color change after washing was in the 16 h coating (0.44%). This result showed that the coating was completed within 16–32 hours and there was only accumulation on the surface in the later times.