Antimicrobial fabrics impregnated with Ag particles included in silica matrices

Abstract

A hospital that has a high incidence of acquired infections during the stay of patients in it is not considered efficient, since as Florence Nightingale, an English lady who died in 1910 and founder of the modern school of nursing, said: “the first thing that doesn’t a hospital must do is get sick.” Filamentous fungi, given their ability to grow on various substrates, are considered within the most damaging organisms. Among the fungi that are generally found in environments inhabited by humans in urban areas, we can mention Alternaria, Aspergillus, and Cladosporium, among others. With the incorporation of biocides into textiles, different methodologies are being studied depending on the stage they are performed; if it is at the finishing of the fabric, among the most used methods is the pad-dry-cure. The objective of this work was to synthesize modified silica by including Ag and C, where the latter is extracted from disused batteries and then added as antimicrobial additives to obtain antimicrobial fabrics.