Authors: Sameen Aslam, Tanveer Hussain, Munir Ashraf*, Madeeha Tabassum, Abdur Rehman, Kashif Iqbal, Amjed Javid
the development of functional and sustainable textiles has been the focus of researchers. The functional textiles are those that are developed specifically for an end purpose with added attributes such as self-cleaning, hydrophilicity, antibacterial activity, crease recovery, and super hydrophobicity. The demand of functionality in traditional clothing as well as in home textiles has significantly increased during recent years. The sustainable textiles are the ones which are developed with minimum impact on environment, minimum consumption of energy, and no hazards for wearers. Traditionally, organic compounds have been used to impart functional properties such as triclosan for antibacterial activity, benzophenones for ultraviolet (UV) protection, dimethylol dihydroxy ethylene urea for wrinkle resistance, fluorocarbons for hydrophobicity, long-chain hydrocarbons and polydimethylsiloxanes for softness, etc. Treatment of textiles with these compounds has two fundamental problems. First, one functional property is imparted to textiles in one step, and therefore, the fabric is subjected to multiple finishing steps to impart multifunctional properties; hence, huge amount of energy and time is consumed during processing. Second, some conventional chemicals that are used to impart functionality are toxic and not eco-friendly such as formaldehyde-based cross-linkers that are used to develop wrinkle-free fabrics. The quest to overcome the problems has led to the discovery and application of new materials in textiles. These materials are both inorganic and organic. Although the functional properties of inorganic materials have been known for quite some time, their usage in textiles to impart functionality became possible only after the advent of synthesizing and manipulating them on a nanoscale. For example, zinc oxide (ZnO) and TiO2 have been known for UV protection, self-cleaning, and antibacterial activity for decades, but their usage in textiles was started after manufacturing them into nanostructure. Since then, they have been used to impart antibacterial activity, UV protection, self-cleaning, etc. Many organic compounds, which are eco-friendly, are being used to impart functionalities to textiles.
