Plasma tool as green route for incorporation of flame retardancy and ultraviolet protection of textile fabrics

Herein, gas plasma was used as an effective route for surface activation for easier incorporation of fire safety, bacterial growth inhibition and UV shielding functions for synthetic polyacrylic fabrics. Oxygen and nitrogen plasma were used with different time exposure for surface activation and their influence for activation was studied. Green nanocomposite-based coating layer was fabricated from ZnONPs prepared using molokhia stems extract of an average nanoparticle diameter of 6.2 nm in conjunction with sodium tripolyphosphate and tetra-n-butylammonium hexafluorophosphate as flame retardant agents. The dispersion of ZnONPs were dispersed in the nanocomposite using ultrasonication process. Afterwards, the plasma treated polyacrylic fabric was coated directly with the fabricated coating layer. The fire safety, antibacterial and UV shielding properties for the treated and untreated polyacrylic fabrics were investigated. The coated polyacrylic fabric achieved good flame retardant properties, recording a decrease in the rate of burning by 83% compared to blank polyacrylic. Additionally, the emission of toxic gases during combustion was suppressed compared to uncoated polyacrylic fabrics. The nanocomposite-based polyacrylic coating inhibits the growth of both gram-positive bacteria of Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative bacteria of Escherichia coli achieving clear inhibition zone of 7.6 and 7.8 mm, respectively, compared to blank polyacrylic sample. The UV protection ability was enhanced significantly for coated fabric affording more than three-fold superior ultraviolet protection factor value than uncoated one. Moreover, the tensile strength was improved achieving reinforcement by ~ 10%.