Cellulose Fibers for High-Performance Textiles Functionalized with Incorporated Gold and Silver Nanoparticles

The versatility of cellulose-based textile products was tailored by the incorporation of Au, Ag, and AgAu nanoparticles into dry-jet wet-spun man-made cellulose fibers. Bleached birch prehydrolyzed kraft pulp served as a reducing agent for chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) and silver nitrate (AgNO3) to yield noble metal nanoparticles via a green, in situ reduction approach. The coated, colored pulp was then dissolved in 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene actetate, a superbase-based ionic liquid, and spun to staple fibers with breaking tenacities (49.7 cN/tex) and elongations (13.4%) comparable to those of commercial lyocell-type fibers. Neither the spinnability of the cellulose solutions nor the tensile properties of the regenerated fibers were affected by the presence of the nanoparticles. The resulting fibers were further spun to yarns with excellent wash fastness and processed to fabrics with promising UV blocking properties (UPF = 26.8–49.6).