Sustainable development of mosquito-repellent, flame-retardant, antibacterial, fragrant and antioxidant linen using microcapsules containing Thymus vulgaris oil in in-situ generated chitosan-phosphate

In the present work, thyme oil embedded functional microcapsules were prepared using in-situ synthesized chitosan phosphate as a shell material through spray drying technique. The encapsulation efficiency (EE %) of microcapsules was determined to investigate the amount of oil entrapped inside the core-shell structure. The prepared microcapsules and finished fabric were characterized using FTIR, EDX, TGA and SEM analysis. The multifunctional properties of finished fabric were investigated using standard test methods. The finished fabric showed excellent antibacterial property (> 98%), antioxidant activity (96%), flame retardancy (LOI > 28), mosquito repellency (100%) and an excellent fragrance. The functional properties were found durable until at least 20 washes. The structure-property relationship was also confirmed through various characterization techniques.