Nature inspired rGO-TiO2 micro-flowers on polyester fabric using semi-continuous dyeing method: A binder-free approach towards durable antibacterial performance

[Display omitted] •The polyester fabric was fabricated with rGO-TiO2 nanocomposites using one bath dyeing technique (Pad-dry-cure method).•The durable adhesion and antibacterial activity of rGO-TiO2 micro flowers (MFs) were achieved against several washing cycles.•The one-step reduction of TiO2-rGO was developed using a heat pressing technique.•Similar morphological structures of micro-flowers (MFs) by TiO2-rGO were found at different temperatures and weight percent. In this paper, the production scale semi-continuous dyeing process is used for the fabrication of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) on the polyester fabric. The micro-flowers (MFs) were successfully decorated on the fiber surface through a simple binder-free approach. The MFs blessed fabric showed improved adhesion and washing stability for antibacterial performance using eco-friendly cold O2 plasma technique. The antibacterial performance of the resultant fabric coated of TiO2- rGO was enhanced from 60∼99.5 % with the increase of GO and TiO2 content% as compared to a pristine coated fabric. The overall efficiency of TiO2-rGO MFs against the gram-positive (S. aureus) and gram-negative (E. coli) bacteria was recorded 99.5 % and 98.0 %, respectively. The work presents a significant contribution to the development of TiO2-rGO coated polyester fabric with durable antibacterial properties.