The commercial chitosan was encapsulated with zinc oxide on
chitosan matrix. Zinc oxide encapsulation was confirmed by the
FTIR spectra with appearance of new peak at 424 cm−1 and shift of
OH group frequency. The room-temperature photoluminescence
spectrum made yellow luminescence at
∼620–630 nm and blueviolet
emission at
∼410–430 nm. The hexagonal wurtzite structure
with crystallite size of 23–20.5 nm for chitosan–ZnO composite
was determined using XRD techniques. chitosan–ZnO composites
have higher thermal stability when compared with commercial chitosan.
FTIR study confirmed the crosslinking on cotton fabric by the
appearance of characteristic peaks of chitosan, cellulose and C N
groups. The SEM photographs revealed the formation of zinc oxide
within the chitosan matrix. The antibacterial test for composite
indicate that the gram
−ve bacterium have higher resistance than
the gram +ve bacterium. The chitosan–ZnO composite crosslinked
cotton fabric shows good antibacterial activity and better durability
than the chitosan.