Ethyl cellulose-based microcapsules of Citrus aurantifolia (Christm.) Swingle essential oil with an optimized emulsifier for antibacterial cosmetotextiles

Antibacterial microcapsules of Citrus aurantifolia (Christm.) Swingle essential oil (LOs) covered by ethyl cellulose biopolymer were prepared and applied to cotton fabric. The microencapsulation of the LOs was accomplished through a simple coacervation process, whereas the immobilization onto the cotton fabric was based on the pad dry method with citric acid as a binder. Optimization of the type and weight of the emulsifier was considered to result in the best properties of the microcapsules. Employing 1 g of tween-80, the best LO microcapsules were successfully obtained up to 46.7 ± 3.8% yield, with spherical morphology and a well-distributed size range of 0.5–2 μm. The oil content (OC) and encapsulation efficiency (EE) of the microcapsules were achieved at 95.4 ± 0.8% and 77.9 ± 6.6% correspondingly. According to Avrami's kinetic model, the release performance of the LOs microcapsules in 2 h was ruled by the first-order kinetic mechanism with the remaining LOs of 37.7%. The LO microcapsules were successfully immobilized onto cotton fabric with a % add-on of 20.1%. Upon a standard washing test, the attached LOs microcapsules demonstrated 5 cycles of resistance against normal washing, with a mass reduction of the microcapsules up to 52.2%. Further antibacterial assays showed that the cotton fabrics immobilized by the LOs microcapsules exhibited a high inhibition, especially towards Gram-negative bacteria E. coli and K. pneumoniae. Thus, it can be potentially developed for antibacterial functional textile.