Long-lasting superhydrophobic antibacterial PET fabrics via graphene oxide promoted in-situ growth of copper nanoparticles

In this paper, superhydrophobic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric with excellent antibacterial activity was prepared via in-situ growing of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) and subsequent modification with 1-octadecanethiol (DT). Graphene oxide (GO) and tannic acid (TA) were synergistically used as polyanionic electrolyte in layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly, where GO played a critical role. It significantly promoted the nucleation of CuNPs on the fabric surface through its great specific surface area and abundant functional groups, thus improving the loading capacity and distribution uniformity of CuNPs. The co-action of GO and TA at the same time enabled the loading fastness of CuNPs to be greatly improved, resulting in an extremely stable surface structure of the fabric. The modified PET fabric exhibited superhydrophobic property with a static water contact angle greater than 150° and showed outstanding anti-fouling, self-cleaning and water-proofing performances, which might decrease bacterial adhesion to the fabric surface. Besides, the modified PET fabrics had excellent antibacterial activity with 99% antibacterial efficiency against both E. coli and S. aureus. More remarkably, the prepared fabrics still retained excellent superhydrophobic performances and antibacterial properties after multiple washing cycles and rubbing cycles. It as well as possessed striking antistatic capability and UV-blocking performance, with the volume resistivity as low as 108 Ω·cm and the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) up to 202. This work provides an innovative and scalable method for the design and preparation of durable functional PET textiles. •Functional GO improves the loading capacity of CuNPs on the surface of PET fabric.•Fabric exhibits superhydrophobic, antibacterial, UV-blocking, antistatic properties.•Fabric presents durability and stability against washing and rubbing.•This work provides a scalable technology for the design of functional fabrics.