Metal Content in Textile and (Nano)Textile Products

Abstract

Metals, metallic compounds, and, recently, metallic nanoparticles appear in textiles due to impurities from raw materials, contamination during the manufacturing process, and/or their deliberate addition. However, the presence of lead, cadmium, chromium (VI), arsenic, mercury, and dioctyltin in textile products is regulated in Europe (Regulation 1907/2006). Metal determination in fabrics was performed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) after microwave-assisted acid digestion. The ICP-MS procedure has been successfully validated; relative standard deviations were up to 3% and analytical recoveries were within the 90–107% range. The developed method was applied to several commercial textiles, and special attention has been focused on textiles with nanofinishing (fabrics prepared with metallic nanoparticles for providing certain functionalities). Arsenic content (in textile T4) and lead content (in subsamples T1-1, T1-2, and T3-3) were found to exceed the maximum limits established by the European Regulation 1907/2006. Although impregnation of yarns with mercury compounds is not allowed, mercury was quantified in fabrics T1-2, T5, and T6. Further speciation studies for determining hexavalent chromium species in sample T9 are necessary (hexavalent chromium is the only species of chromium regulated). Some textile products commercialised in Europe included in this study do not comply with European regulation 1907/2006.

Hazardous Chemical Elements in Cleaning Cloths, a Potential Source of Microfibres

“…Arsenic, Cd and Pb are restricted in textile products in Europe, with maximum legal concentrations of the elements or their compounds of 1 mg kg −1 (European Union, 2011) and impregnation with Hg compounds is not permitted (European Union, 2006). Our results for As, Bi, Cd, Hg and Pb are qualitatively consistent with those given by Rovira et al (2015Rovira et al ( , 2017, Herrero et al (2019), andRujido-Santos et al (2022) involving more sensitive means of textile analysis and reflecting the general but limited contamination of textile materials. Thus, in these studies contaminant elements were occasionally detected but usually at concentrations below the regulatory limit of 1 mg kg −1 .…”

“…Although Sb was most commonly (but not always) detected in cloth samples theoretically containing PES, its concentration was not proportional to the percentage of PES stated by the manufacturer, with about 70 mg kg −1 found in a sample of 10 % PES and values ranging from about 40 to 200 mg kg −1 in "pure" PES. By comparison, maximum values ranging from 152 to 472 mg kg −1 have been reported in clothing textiles of, presumably, PES construction throughout the literature (Rovira et al, 2015(Rovira et al, , 2017Turner, 2019;Biver et al, 2021;Rujido-Santos et al, 2022), and Sb is present in PET bottles with concentrations in the range 200-400 mg kg −1 (Filella, 2020). Antimony is also used as a synergist for brominated flame retardants.…”

“…The concentrations of potentially hazardous chemical elements reported in the literature for clothing textiles are given in Table 6. Clothing textiles tend to utilise more natural fibres than cleaning cloths (Rovira et al, 2015(Rovira et al, , 2017Herrero et al, 2019) and occasionally use specific additives for functionalisation (e.g., appearance and UV protection; von Goetz et al, 2013;Rujido-Santos et al, 2022). Amongst these studies, it is also important to bear in mind that some differences may reflect different analytical approaches employed; specifically, non-destructive XRF (e.g.…”

“…Amongst these studies, it is also important to bear in mind that some differences may reflect different analytical approaches employed; specifically, non-destructive XRF (e.g. Kawakami et al, 2020) versus ICP-MS following sample digestion in nitric acid (Rovira et al, 2015) or in three mineral acids plus hydrogen peroxide (Rujido-Santos et al, 2022). Nevertheless, maximum values for many elements used in additives, and in particular those analysed by XRF and including Br, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ti and Zn, are comparable amongst studies and with maximum concentrations we measured in our cleaning cloths and shown in Table 4 (one exception is the high content of Cr reported by Kawakami et al ( 2020)) compared with studies undertaken in Europe where chromium-based dyes are restricted).…”

An In Vitro and In Vivo Study of the Efficacy and Toxicity of Plant-Extract-Derived Silver Nanoparticles

“…Physico-chemical properties, such as shape, size, surface charge, agglomeration, dispersity, and colloidal stability, influence the behavior of metal and metal oxides to a great extent. These nanoparticles are rapidly finding applications in diverse areas, including textile, cosmetics, agriculture, food packaging, pharmaceutical, chemical, engineering, and medical applications [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, such as silver, gold, zinc oxide, and copper oxide, encompass diverse therapeutic applications, such as targeted drug release and antibacterial and antimicrobial activities, and are thus considered ideal candidates for wound dressings [ 7 , 8 , 9 ] and wound healing [ 10 , 11 ].…”