Antimicrobial Properties of Polyester Fabric Modified by Nanosized Titanium Dioxide

Abstract

We investigated antimicrobial properties of polyester fabrics with photochemical activity that they gained owing to modification by small amounts of undoped and metal-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles. We showed that the polyester fabric modified by undoped titanium dioxide leads to decolorization of colored impurities, but does not exhibit antimicrobial properties. We found that the use of nanosized silver-doped titanium dioxide particles with a higher photocatalytic activity as a modifier provides the polyester fabric with the ability to suppress the vital activity of bacteria. We analyzed the mechanism of the antimicrobial activity of nanosized silver-doped titanium dioxide. We showed that ions that are released by silver nanoparticles inhibit the activity of Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus in the absence of UV irradiation. We found that the polyester fabric with a coating that is formed by silver-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles in the presence of UV irradiation acquires the ability to inactivate Gram-negative bacteria E. coli via a photocatalytic mechanism. This mechanism requires a contact between the modified polyester fabric with bacteria, which makes it possible for them to be sorbed by the titanium dioxide coating.