Cationic functionalized bamboo fibers with spinnable and antibacterial properties prepared in chlorocholine chloride/urea deep eutectic solvent

The rough and rigid qualities of bamboo fibers limit their textile applications. Therefore, the modification of bamboo fibers is extremely necessary. In this study, the spinnability and antibacterial properties of bamboo fibers were endowed by using the deep eutectic solvent chlorocholine chloride/urea (ClChCl-urea). The results indicated that the bamboo fibers were functionalized effectively in the solvent of ClChCl-urea. The noncellulosic substances hemicellulose and lignin were partially removed from bamboo fibers by ClChCl-urea. Compared with delignated bamboo fibers (DL-BF) and bamboo cellulose (BC), the dewaxed bamboo fibers (DW-BF) after the treatment of ClChCl-urea at 105 °C (DW-BF-105) had the highest degree of substitution (DS = 0.12). The linear density of DW-BF-105 decreased from 22.46 to 14.29 tex, and the breaking strength decreased from 3.73 to 1.76 cN/dtex. In addition, DW-BF-105 exhibited excellent antibacterial activity toward Escherichia coli (gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive), with bacteriostatic rates of 75.5% and 72.7%, respectively. This work provides a sustainable method for the high-value application of bamboo in the textile field.