Microwave-heating for in-situ Ag NPs preparation into viscose fibers

[Display omitted] •Multi-functionalization of viscose fibers was achieved by in-situ synthesis of Ag NPs.•The Ag NPs were synthesized into the viscose fibers surface by using microwave _ polyol method.•The Ag treated viscose fibers exhibit good color fastness, antimicrobial and catalytic properties.•The Ag treated viscose fibers can be used in biomedical applications. In the current approach, the microwave heating and polyol method are applied for first time to facilitate silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in-situ incorporated into viscose fibers. The Ag NPs gave a distinctive color as well as multifunctional properties to viscose fibers. The Ag+ ions in the viscose fiber surfaces are reduced to Ag NPs with ethyleneglycol as reducing agent and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as stabilizing agent. This takes less period and energy than that consumed during the conventional heating method (exo-situ incorporated). The silver nanoparticles were examined through UV–Vis spectrum of the residual solutions and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The Ag NPs incorporated viscose fiber surfaces were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy coupled with an energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements. The effects of silver nanoparticles on the multifunctional properties of the fibers including coloration, antibacterial activity and catalytic properties were evaluated. The overall results point out that, the Ag NPs incorporated viscose fibers exhibited excellent color fastness as well as good antibacterial and catalytic properties. In straightforward, the procedure adopted for fabricating these multifunctional viscose fibers is environmental friendly beside time and energy-saving.