Nano-boron as an antibacterial agent for functionalized textiles

Abstract

The antibacterial properties of boron-containing compounds are well known although there are limited studies available on the pure boron nanoparticles. In this study boron nano-particles were characterized in terms of their particle size, shape, stability and surface charge before and after they are applied to textile surfaces to study their impact on antibacterial activity in addition to cytotoxicity. It was observed that the boron nano-particles are affective in limiting bacteria growth on both gram-negative and gram-positive species without requiring any stimulation to initiate the antibacterial action. It was also found that the application of boron nano-particles on the textile surfaces through mixing them in hydrophobic finishing solutions helped improve the wettability performance of the textiles while showing no change in the physical and colour fastness properties at an optimal concentration of 0.02 % w/v of finishing solution.