title: Development of chitosan-based antimicrobial leather coatings.
abstract: The development of antimicrobial coatings for footwear components is of great interest both from industry and consumer's point of view. In this work, antimicrobial leather materials were developed taking advantage of chitosan intrinsic antimicrobial activity and film forming capacity. Considering the specificities of the leather tanning industry, different coating technologies, namely drum, calender and spray, were tested, being the best results achieved with the drum. This last approach was further investigated to assess the effect of chitosan content, type of solubilizing acid, and impregnation time on the achieved antimicrobial capacity. Considering chitosan price (economic reasons) and the obtained results (antimicrobial activity and coating effectiveness, as inspected by SEM), the impregnation in the drum using a chitosan content of 1% (w/v) in a formic acid solution during 2h, is proposed as the best option for obtaining leather with antimicrobial capacity.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering (LSRE), Associate Laboratory LSRE/LCM, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Campus Santa Apolónia Ap. 1134, 5301-857 Bragança, Portugal. ipmf@ipb.pt
authors.forename: Isabel P
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Joana S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Amaral
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: Maria José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Maria Filomena
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Barreiro
mesh_terms: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012775:Shoes
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D048271:Chitosan
keywords: Antimicrobial coatings; Chitosan; Footwear; Leather