Investigation on multifunctional modification of cotton fabrics for salt-free dyeing, resisting crease and inhibiting bacteria

An easy and feasible modifying method for preparing multifunctional cotton was described herein. Cotton fabrics were first esterified with citric acid (CA) and then grafted with poly (hexamethylene biguanide) hydrochloride (PHMB) via forming amide bonds. The structure and surface morphology of the cotton fibers before and after modification were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The modified cotton fabrics could be dyed with reactive dyes in the absence of inorganic salts. The dye exhaustion (E) and total dye utilization (T) values increased by up to 96.37% and 87.4%, respectively. And the color fastness and levelness of all dyed samples were also satisfactory. In addition, the wrinkle resistance and antimicrobial properties of the modified cotton fabrics had been partly improved. More importantly, the chemical modification was carried out under mild conditions, and the whole process was simple and clean.