Impregnation of textile cotton material with Cymbopogon citratus-mediated silver nanoparticles and investigations by light, electron and hyperspectral microscopies

The present study aims to design a cheap and environmentally friendly cotton textile impregnated with green synthesized silver nanoparticles from Cymbopogon citratus leaves. The silver nanoparticles were characterized by umtraviolet spectroscopy and powder X-ray diffraction. Analytical differences between impregnated and non-impregnated cotton textiles were assessed by light, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Hyperspectral microscopy reveals the presence of silver nanoparticles inside in situ impregnated cotton material and was coupled to emission spectroscopy to differentiate from cotton fabric giving insight for material quality control. TEM presents high-density dispersions of silver nanoparticles inside the cotton materials and lowest sizes for the in situ impregnated cotton material. The in situ nanomaterial shows differences in maximum emission compared to the cotton fabric, and the particles could be visualized by dark field microscopy. Water and nanoparticle solution retention capacities of the cotton fabrics were determined. The experiment suggests that the in situ impregnated cotton fabric had outstanding washing resistance.