Effect of metal ion on UV protective and antimicrobial properties of in-situ synthesized pyrithione complexes on cellulosic textiles

The development of functional textiles is crucial for human protection from microbes and harmful radiations. In this study, UV-protective and antimicrobial properties of cellulosic (viscose) textiles modified with metal pyrithione complexes have been investigated. Different metal pyrithione complexes (based on silver (Ag), cerium (Ce), copper (Cu), magnesium (Mg), and zinc (Zn)) have been in-situ synthesized on viscose (VC-MPT) and phosphorylated viscose (VP-MPT) fabrics. The surface morphology was characterized by FE-SEM and chemical nature was studied by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, ICP-MS, and solid-state NMR. The antimicrobial activities of different VC-MPT and VP-MPT treated fabrics were compared against E. coli, S. aureus, and Candida albicans and have been found to be effective to various degrees (up to 98–99% microbial growth inhibition) based on the type of metal used in VC-MPT and VP-MPT. Additionally, the functionalized fabrics were found to have high UV blocking properties. VP-MPT exhibited significantly better durability for up to 20 wash cycles compared with VC-MPT fabrics possibly due to better complexation of in-situ synthesized metal pyrithione with the phosphorylated cellulose. The study for the first time evaluates the efficacy of various metal pyrithione complexes formed insitu on textiles for achieving high degree of both antimicrobial and UV-protection properties.