Making thin polymeric materials, including fabrics, microbicidal and also water-repellent.

A procedure is developed and validated for making a non-functionalized polyolefin fabric/film highly bactericidal and fungicidal which involves a free-radical grafting of maleic anhydride, followed by an attachment of polyethylenimine (PEI) and its subsequent N-alkylation. Separately, cotton fabric coated with a micron layer of a hydrophobic polymer using hot-filament chemical vapor deposition is rendered markedly hydrophobic; if this coating is preceded by immobilization of N-alkyl-PEI, the fabric becomes both water-repellent and bactericidal.