Among the diverse fields of application of technical textiles, which are poised for tremendous growth in fast-developing economies such as India and China, non-implantable healthcare and hygiene products are assuming significant importance because of the specificity of their end uses. Today, the healthcare industry is increasingly concerned with the exposure and transference of various microorganisms that are commonly present in the atmosphere. Studies have been carried out in the present work to fine-tune the properties of copper oxide nanoparticles for special applications. Using copper sulfate and sodium hydroxide as precursors and soluble starch as stabilizing agent, the copper oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a wet chemical method. The copper oxide nanoparticles were microencapsulated by an ionic gelation method and applied to plain weave cotton fabric by exhaustion as the first step, and in the second step by the pad—dry—cure method. The antibacterial property of the coated fabric was determined quantitatively and qualitatively using AATCC 100 and 147 test methods, respectively. Techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and physical and chemical characterization were employed to study the phase and morphology of the nanoparticles. The results indicate that the coated fabric has high antibacterial efficiency. The nanoparticles synthesized in this work have an average size of 50 nm, and the physical and chemical properties of the treated fabric are markedly different from those of the untreated fabric. Insights into copper oxide encapsulated coated fabric prove their efficacy against microbes and hence can be used in the manufacture of medical apparel.

Silica nanoparticles particles were synthesized from rice hulls and characterized. The particles were found to be amorphous in nature, ranging in size from 50 to 100 nm. The concentration of silica nanoparticles, pH and curing time were taken as independent variables to design the experiment. Box-Behnken method has been used to derive the experimental plan and fifteen experiments were conducted. Regression equations have been formed with the dependent and independent variables and the results of all possible combinations have been derived. The combination of optimized concentration of BTCA and SHP were used as crosslinking agent and catalyst respectively and silica nano particles were used to enhance the physical properties of the cotton fabric. The effect of pH and curing time on physical properties were analysed by FTIR studies. By ranking method the best combination of process parameters were identified. From this study, it was observed that higher concentration of silica nanoparticles with BTCA improve the crease recovery angle and tensile strength. FTIR studies revealed that the increase of pH and curing time increases the ester carbonyl band intensity ratio.

The performance of ultraviolet (UV) protection, antimicrobial activity, and self-cleaning characteristics of nano titanium dioxide (TiO2) with acrylic binder were assessed on the cotton fabric using pad-dry-cure method. Titanium iso-propoxide was used as precursor with two different mediums of water and ethanol to synthesize nano-sol by sol-gel technique. The synthesized nano-sol-gel was then characterized by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, particle size analyzer (PSA), X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The nano TiO2 finished cotton fabrics were tested for ultraviolet protection factor (UPF), antimicrobial activity, self-cleaning action, and physical properties. The wash fastness of TiO2 nano finished cotton fabrics for 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th washes was assessed and also their ultra protection factor values and the percentage reduction in bacteria in each stage were reported. The self-cleaning activity was assessed for 12 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours duration by exposing coffee stain on the specimen fabrics to sunlight. The TiO2 nanoparticles had 12 nm when ethanol medium was used and 7 nm for water. The smaller nanoparticles had showed better results regards antimicrobial activity and self-cleaning. In case of UV-protection function it was found that the fabrics treated with 12 nm nanoparticles exhibit higher UPF values than the fabric treated with 7 nm nanoparticles. The durability of the imparted function was in the range of 32–36 washes for antimicrobial activity and UV-protection property.

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Today wearable electronics are playing a vital role in many applications such as military, medical application, telecommunications, and health care garments. Conductive textiles are also providing wide range of applications in areas of civilian and military purposes. In this research work, an attempt has been made to design and develop core—sheath conductive yarns with copper filament as core and cotton as sheath using Dref-3 friction spinning system. The special guide mechanism has been designed and used to produce uniform structure of core—sheath conductive yarns. Three different core—sheath ratios such as 67/33, 80/20, and 90/10 respectively, were produced by varying the draft in the second drafting unit, which fed the cotton carded slivers to cover the core component. Copper filament of 38 SWG British Standard Gauge has been used as core component. The nominal yarn linear density of core conductive yarn (CCY) produced in this research was 328 tex and core component kept as constant 261 tex for all the yarn samples. The copper CCY were used to develop the conductive fabrics. These fabrics have very good scope for many applications for development of electromagnetic shielding wearable textiles, mobile phone charging, and body temperature sensing garments. The electro-mechanical characteristics of the copper CCY and fabrics have been studied.