Development of bioactive microspheres for the functionalization of textile materials

• Main Author: Faustino, Graça Maria Alves
• Publication Date: 2010
• Format: Master thesis
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/3939
• topic: Ultra-sons; Quitosano; Biocidas; Concentração mínima inibitória (MIC); Infecções Microbianas; Materiais têxteis - Aplicações médicas; Têxteis antimicrobianos; Microesferas; Agentes antimicrobianos; Layer-by-Layer; Domínio/Área Científica::Engenharia e Tecnologia::Engenharia Química

The development of functional medical textiles, including cosmetics, will have a positive impact on quality of life as textiles, when in direct contact and non-obstructive to the surface of the human body, can act as backers of therapeutic agents. Have adequate protection against infection by taking preventive action combined with the comfort features. Thus, the functionalization of textile materials with bioactive microspheres will produce products previously unthinkable as agents or drugs in the nucleus or retained in the membrane of these microspheres may exert an antimicrobial and therapeutical action. Several methods, depending on the active agent and type of fiber have been developed or are being developed to confer antimicrobial activity to textiles. However, not all the desired bioactive properties are achieved with high success rate. Thus, a new approach involves the investigation of more suitable conditions for surface functionalization of textile-based dressings with incorporated bioactive microspheres capable of releasing antimicrobial agents and/or drugs, preventing and treating microbial infections. This new approach aims to study the formation of surface layers antimicrobial sonochemical a process to generate and apply the microspheres in the textile industry. This work aims to study the formation of microspheres by a sonochemical process with possible application in textile materials in order to provide antimicrobial properties. Through the sonochemical process it was possible to produce and bind to textile fibers stable microspheres with a size of 2 μm and a perfect spherical morphology, in a process that only takes 10 min. In addition it was evaluated the antimicrobial properties of the functionalized textile material using qualitative methods such as SEM and JIS L 1902:2002. These new antimicrobial agents have shown good antimicrobial activity, tested by these two methods mentioned. Moreover, and in order to obtain more stable microspheres, it was evaluated the application of new techniques such as LBL promotes. Results showed the success of this new approach by the greater stability of the LbL coated microspheres. Finally, this investigation has contributed to the development of a new generation of antimicrobial materials developed tottaly with natural agents that are more environmentally friendly, in particular by the use of essential oils, more precisely Lime oil, which has shown excellent antimicrobial properties when incorporated in the microspheres that were linked onto the textiles.