Plasma‐Assisted and <scp>REDOX</scp>‐Driven Synthesis of Polyaniline and Silver Nanoparticles Toward Multifunctional Nonwoven Cellulose Fabric Recycled From Textile Waste

ABSTRACT Cotton fibers have been a main source for numerous textiles and nontextile industrial applications. However, there has been a growing demand to discover more sources for cellulose fibers at low cost and high quality. Herein, multifunctional nonwoven cotton fabric was developed from a recycled waste of a woven cotton textile by the pad‐dry‐cure method from a combination of aniline and silver nitrate into plasma‐treated cotton textiles. As a result of the oxidation‐driven polymerization of aniline to PANi, silver ions (Ag + ) were reduced into silver nanoparticles (Ag 0 ) with diameters of 5–9 nm. The mechanical needle punching technology was applied on a pre‐shredded cotton waste to fabricate a nonwoven fabric with fiber diameters of 7–18 μm. PANi functioned as an electroconductive agent on the fabric surface, whereas AgNPs suppressed microbial growth. A weak peak was detected at 576 nm for plasma‐unexposed fabrics to indicate a pink color, whereas a stronger absorption band was noted at 609 nm for plasma‐exposed fabrics to signify a purple color. The Ag 0 /PANi/HDTMS hybrid was applied to the plasma‐assisted textile, demonstrating an electrical conductivity of 0.7514 S/cm, contact angles of up to 157.1°, high ultraviolet protection, and superior biological activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli .