Treatment of fabrics with citronella oil nanoemulsion: Characterisation, In-vitro controlled-release and retention studies

Abstract The high volatility of essential oil on treated fabrics has received great attention from scientists due to its potential to reduce the effectiveness of mosquito repellency. To overcome this drawback, synthetic polymer has been used as binder to reduce the volatility of essential oil. However, these synthetic polymers are expensive and are not degradable naturally which have potential to pollute environment. These problems warn and motivate many researchers to search for a safer and more biodegradable binder. In this study, tragacanth gum, a biopolymer derived from plant, Astragalus gummifer , was used in the nanoemulsion that later treated with fabrics. We investigated the efficacy of cotton and polyester treated with tragacanth gum loaded with lemongrass essential oil nanoemulsion. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), zeta potential, and polydispersity index were used to characterise the nanoemulsion formulation. Meanwhile, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyse the treated fabrics. The results showed that tragacanth gum loaded with lemongrass essential oil exhibits 94% encapsulation efficiency with a -35.23 mV zeta potential and 0.2 polydispersity index. In conclusion, tragacanth gum loaded with lemongrass essential oil nanoemulsion was successfully developed. Nanoemulsion recorded a good stability, was able to prolong the release of lemongrass essential oil and had a high level of retention on fabrics towards washing and heating process. Results conclude that nanoemulsion could be used for the delivery of hydrophobic compounds and is able to increase the effectiveness of essential oil.