Designing and fabrication of smart textile materials to combat healthcare-associated infections

It is estimated that yearly at least 10,000 patients in the U.S. and up to 700,000 patients in the European Union affected by multidrug-resistant strains & pathogens circulating in hospitals. Throughout the World, death-related HAI causes an annual estimate of USD 33 billion [3]. To overcome HAI related issues, many hospitals start using antimicrobial textiles based on silver-coated (cotton and linen) materials [4]. Silver ions or nanoparticles can regulate the growth of specific infectious pathogens (for example, gram-positive and negative bacteria). However, the mode of action depends on the concentrations of silver coating on the textiles. The pattern of operation stops depleting after a single-use [5]. Since the silver is expensive, thus there is a search for more effective and long-lasting antimicrobial/antiviral textiles. In this regard, we plan to introduce long-lasting and cheaper photocatalytic antipathogenic materials on the textiles. Various combinations of photocatalytic antipathetic materials (TiO2 with Cu, Fe, Bi, Pd, B, Ag) will be prepared and immobilized on the textiles via various approaches and then investigated for their activity. The major advantages of these materials are (i) higher antipathogenic activity, (ii) cheaper & long-lasting, and (iii) easy to clean by photocatalytic activity.