Nanotechnology Applications in Textiles Industry
Nanotechnology is an emerging interdisciplinary technology which has a massive impact on competitiveness and sustainable development in several sectors including electronics, energy, cosmetics, medical, defense, aerospace, food, agriculture and textile. It has been predicted that the global nanotechnology industry will grow to reach USD 75.8 billion by 2020.
The term Nano in nanotechnology comes from the Greek word “nanos” which means dwarf. One nanometer (10-9 m) is one billionth of a meter that is 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a single human hair. So, the nanoscale is ranged between approximately 1 to 100 nm. Nanotechnology had been given a definition by the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) as; Understanding, manipulation, and control of matter at the above-mentioned nanoscale in at least one dimension out of three dimensions (3D). Professor Richard Feynman famous physicist, in 1959 at a lecture titled “There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom”, questioned the audience that “Why cannot we write the entire 24 volumes of the Encyclopedia Brittanica on the head of a pin?” his demonstration was, Nano dimensional matter can be manipulated to achieve significantly improved material properties. Now his predicted concepts are becoming more and more realistic practice.
The fundamental of nanotechnology depends upon the change in properties of the substance when their size brought down to the nanometer scale. In fact, the individual nanoparticles exhibit extraordinary properties compared to the bulk matter. For example, a gold nanoparticle of 1 nm size could be observed as red in color. These unexpected properties make nanotechnology to navigate towards the federal funding, research and media attention.
Indeed, nanotechnology has caused a large impact on the textile industry thus makes it unexceptional. As our present lifestyle is much complicated and rather busy, we expect to make things simpler. What if we can wear the same cloth without washing and ironing for few days only because it doesn’t give any undesirable conditions like bad odor, stained and creased? Well yes, exactly nanotechnology has interesting solutions for that.
Due to this astonishing technology which employs nano-scaled matter, dresses are now not only used to keep us warm and safe but also give fascinating functions which results smart and intelligent textiles. Shoes that tell us where we are, with an inboat GPS, Jogging kits can regulate our body temperature, pants could charge our smart phones while we are walking, under wears that can keep our body moisturized and tones the skin and frocks that can change the color according to our mood and socks can detect our heart rate and blood sugar level. These are some of the interesting applications of nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology spare the textiles by providing unanticipated properties making them noteworthy. The new era of textiles is “nanoengineered functional textiles. Textiles are nanoengineered to make special functions including water repellency, antibacterial properties, conductivity, wrinkle resistance properties, antistatic behavior, and light guidance and scattering. Water repellency which is known as hydrophobicity is imparted to fabrics by creating nanowhiskers on the surface to create fuzzy effect or by other words creating roughness. This phenomenon is called the “lotus effect” The spaces between individual whiskers are smaller than a drop of water but larger than water molecules, thus producing a high surface tension makes water to remain on the surface.
Bioinspired things other than lotus leaf has also given a motivation to develop water-repellent materials. Ex; duck feathers consist of multiscale structures which have preening oil to repel water. Soil repellency property is popular in agricultural, automobile, industrial textiles. Ecofriendly C6 Fluro carbon based chemical compound treated textile surfaces lowers the surface energy which repel soil strain.
Cotton is the most common and widely used fiber type that have high absorbency, softness and breathability. But nonconventional usage of cotton is being restricted due to low strength, low durability, easy creasing and flammability. Nano coatings can prevent crease while maintaining comfort apart from traditional methods like adding starch. On the other hand, textile fibers do not provide sufficient strength for certain applications. Composite fibers playing an excellent role in imparting strength ex; Carbon nanotube reinforced composite fibers. They possess higher strength enhancement to the fibers. With the concern of fighting with microbial pathogens in day to day life is a critical situation as they cause critical effects like infections, chronic wound growth etc. Textiles with outstanding antimicrobial activity is a wonderful way to inhibit microorganism growth like bacteria and fungi. The nanosized active compounds can attack those pathogens in different ways. These kinds of textiles are being used in medical, health care and military sectors.
Skin exposure to UV is problematic and causes diseases like skin cancer. If we can cover up our body with a UV blocking substance we will be in a safe zone. Metal oxide nanoparticles like Titanium dioxide coated fabrics could significantly block UV rays restricting the penetration in to the body. Nanotechnology has been amalgamated with personal care applications too. Nano-capsules containing natural ingredients like aloe vera, essential oils coated fabrics are more desirable to keep our skin fresh and moisturized also enhance the beauty of the skin. Cosmetic textiles are up to trend for numerous values. Fragrance encapsulated nanosized capsules provide good feel and bad odor generating due to human sweat. For example, active ingredients (rose, mint, jasmine) encapsulated shell wall composed of a polymer matrix controllably release the fragrance essence to the environment to give a good aroma. In this way there are numerous innovations were effectuated.
Smartness to textiles
Smart textiles are more popular in several applications specially in sportswear, medical field, aerospace, sports and military sectors etc. Smart textiles can sense and react to the environmental conditions or stimuli. For instance, they can continuously monitor a person’s body condition which could detect the possibility to undergo crucial diseases such as cardiovascular attack in future which could leading to death. So, pre-treatments can be conducted in order to prevent the occurrence. Monitoring respiration, electrocardiogram ( ECG), electromyogram (EMG), body posture, and movement also available by means of fabric bioelectrodes and strain sensors. A smart glove with sensors is used for detecting the activity of the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for the body’s involuntary vital functions. There are several projects had been done for the continuous ambulatory monitoring. Sports industry driving towards developing materials for improving several factors like athlete performance, comfort and protection. For example, famous brands like Adidas and Nike uses such technologies to make their products dispatched towards high performance and smartness. For example, Adidas_1 running shoe has various elements to adjust its shock- absorbance according to the individual runner’s style, pace, body weight, and running surface and Nike wireless sensor which connects to an iPod containing different playlists accordingly match with the type of workout done and also tracks the distance, time, pace, and calories burned. Moisture wicking properties also desirable in sports activities for keep the wearer comfort manner. Nano fiber membranes attached fulfill the requirements of that.
Smart nanotextiles becoming gen- erally available consumer product thus drags the eye of everyone. Hence textiles are having an important share in the market. Market trends drives into great opportunities for nanotechnology integrated textile market. Nanotextiles will become an inevitable part of our lifestyle near future.