Polyurethane shell medicinal lavender release microcapsules for textile materials: An environmentally friendly preparation

In this study, polyurethane (PU) shell capsules were prepared and applied to cotton fabrics to release medicinal lavender oil Lavandula angustifolia over a period of time. Textiles containing fragrance microcapsules for controlled release are classified as cosmetotextiles and are referred to as aromatherapeutic textiles. As a novel application, capsule shell is combined by a reaction of environmentally friendly propylene glycol (PG) and an isocyanate to decrease the bad effect towards nature and to play aromatherapeutic for anxiety treatment. Fragrance capsules were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, polarized optical microscopy (POM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and controlled release measurements in which the weight of the fragrance capsules were monitored and recorded at regular intervals. The specific peaks of -NH, -CO and -CN of the PU were determined in the FT-IR spectral analysis. Morphological analysis is used to measure the average particle size in a range of 15–50 µm. POM showed that the particles can be suspended in water and observed. The morphology analysis depicted spherical structure at varying size distribution. From SEM analysis also showed that the microcapsules can be applied to cotton fabrics simply by the exhaust method. The release analysis showed that the microcapsules prepared with 2,4-toluene diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate, and methylene bisphenol diisocyanate encapsulated 30.03 %, 43.80 % and 52.16 % lavender oil respectively. Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis was also used to detect the content of the microcapsules including EO and its results were found consistent with the recipes.