Deodorizing and Antibacterial Abilities of Knitted Cotton Fabrics Mordant Dyed with Reactive Dyes and Copper (II) Sulfate

Abstract

Non-mercerized and mercerized knitted cotton fabrics were dyed with the copper-containing reactive dyes, C.I. Reactive Blue 237 and C.I. Reactive Blue 71, and pre- and post-mordanted with copper (II) sulfate. We investigated the effects of the type and concentration of dye, the type of cotton fabric, and the difference in mordanting methods on ethanethiol deodorizing ability. The deodorizing abilities conferred by pre-mordanting with copper sulfate (pre), dyeing (D), dyeing after pre-mordanting (pre-D) or post-mordanting with copper sulfate after dyeing (D-post) were in the order D < pre-D < D-post < pre. The deodorizing abilities of the sample fabrics with higher copper ion uptakes were not necessarily higher. The abilities of the mordant-dyed non-mercerized cotton samples were higher than those of the mordant-dyed mercerized cotton samples. The mordant-dyed non-mercerized knitted cotton samples adsorb larger amounts of copper ions directly bound to cotton during pre-mordanting. The ability of the copper ions bound to cotton and to the dye during pre- or post-mordanting is higher than that of the copper ions contained in the dye molecule. In addition, mordant-dyed cotton fabrics exhibited antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA, and thus had potential as deodorizing/antibacterial fabrics.