Electrosprayed gum tragacanth/zinc oxide nanoparticles and their application as antibacterial agent on cotton terry towel

In this study, the antibacterial properties of 100% cotton terry towels, electrosprayed with gum tragacanth/ZnO nanoparticles are investigated. Various concentrations of gum tragacanth/ZnO in water and water–ethanol (70:30) are electrosprayed and evaluated by SEM. The results show that increasing the amount of ZnO (up to 200% w/w relative to gum tragacanth) lowers the mean size of the electrosprayed nanoparticles. FTIR spectroscopy proves a decrease in hydrogen bonding of tragacanth as a result of the interaction between gum tragacanth and ZnO. XRD analysis show a hexagonal wurtzite phase for ZnO nanoparticles in the tragacanth matrix. The antibacterial analyses show that the samples electrosprayed with gum tragacanth/ZnO nanoparticles are active against Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Briefly, in the absence of any cross-linking agent, 70% of antibacterial activity is retained after the first wash.