UV protection and antibacterial properties of seaweed capped ZnO nanoparticles coated cotton fabrics.

Seaweed capped zinc oxide nanoparticles (SW-ZnO NPs) were prepared by simple chemical precipitation method of zinc nitrate in the presence of seaweed. The synthesized SW-ZnO NPs were characterised by FT-IR, UV-vis spectroscopy, XRD and BET analysis. These metal oxides were coated on cotton fabric using pad dry cure technique. The SW-ZnO NPs coated cotton fabrics, the surface morphology and chemical composition was analysed by HR-SEM with EDAX. The antibacterial activity of uncoated cotton, seaweed extract and SW-ZnO NPs coated cotton fabrics were investigated against Gram positive (S. aureus and S. pyogenes) and Gram negative (E. coli and K. aerogens). It showed that SW-ZnO NPs coated cotton fabric has higher antibacterial activity than other test samples against both bacteria's. Finally, a UV-protection property of the coated cotton fabric was also tested.