title: Environmentally friendly procedure for in-situ coating of regenerated cellulose fibres with silver nanoparticles.
abstract: This study introduces a novel green in-situ procedure for introduction of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) on and into cellulose fibres in a three-stage process. First-stage of the process includes the activation of cellulose fibres in alkaline solution, followed by reduction of silver nitrate to Ag NPs in the second stage, while the last stage of process involves washing and neutralization of fibres. Efficiency of the method towards incorporation of silver particles into the fibres' internal structure was characterized; the coatings' morphology and determination of spatial presence of Ag particles were imagining by the scanning electron microscopy and accompanying energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis; prepared fibres have superior durability of particles' coating against washing and excellent antimicrobial activity even after 20 washing cycles. Additionally, the water retention of silver treated fibres was improved, while the mechanical properties were not significantly impaired.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia. Electronic address: tanja.pivec@um.si.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pivec
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia. Electronic address: silvo.hribernik@um.si.
authors.forename: Silvo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hribernik
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Večna Pot, 113 SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: mitja.kolar@fkkt.uni-lj.si.
authors.forename: Mitja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kolar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, Smetanova 17, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia. Electronic address: karin.stana@um.si.
authors.forename: Karin Stana
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kleinschek
mesh_terms: D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles; D012834:Silver; D012835:Silver Nitrate
chemical_list: D012834:Silver; D002482:Cellulose; D012835:Silver Nitrate; C012024:rayon, purified
keywords: Antimicrobial activity; Durability of coatings; In-situ synthesis; Regenerated cellulose fibres; Silver nanoparticles