Cellulose fibers modified with nano-sized antimicrobial polymer latex for pathogen deactivation.

Antimicrobial cellulose fibers and paper products are of great importance for various applications. In this work, novel core-shell antimicrobial latexes based on hydrophobic acrylate monomers and antimicrobial macromonomer (GPHGH) were successfully prepared via a seeded semi-continuous emulsion copolymerization in the presence of a cationic surfactant. The surface properties as well as size of latex were tailored by varying the amount of GPHGH incorporated during the copolymerization. The resulting cationic nano-sized latexes showed the strong adsorption and formed monolayer on the surfaces of bleached sulfite fibers, thus rendering the cellulose fibers antimicrobial. An excellent antimicrobial activity (>99.99% inhibition) of modified fiber toward Escherichia coli was achieved at 0.3wt% of latex dosage (on dry fibers). Results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observation confirmed that the particles obtained indeed possessed a desired core-shell structure. The latexes themselves exhibited high antimicrobial activities against E. coli with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) as low as 6.25ppm (similar to that of pure guanidine-based polymer). Moreover, the mechanical strength of the hand-sheets made from latex-modified cellulose fibers was also improved due to the filming of the latex on fiber surfaces.