4. Anti-Bacteria
Neither natural nor synthetic textile fibers are resistant to bacterial or pathogenic fungi. Therefore, antibacterial disinfection and finishing techniques have been developed for many types of textiles including treatment of textile fibers by padding cotton and polyester fabrics with nano-sized silver, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide colloidal solutions (25-50 ppm). Metallic ions and metallic compounds display a certain degree of sterilizing effect. It is considered that part of the oxygen in the air or water is turned into active oxygen by means of photo catalysis with the metallic ion, thereby dissolving the organic substance to create a sterilizing effect. With the use of nano-sized particles, the number of particles per unit area is increased, and thus anti-bacterial effects can be maximized.
Nano-silver particles have an extremely large relative surface area, thus increasing their contact with bacteria or fungi, and vastly improving their bactericidal and fungicidal effectiveness. Nano-silver is very reactive with proteins. When contacting bacteria and fungus, it will adversely affect cellular metabolism and inhibit cell growth. It also suppresses respiration, the basal metabolism of the electron transfer system, and the transport of the substrate into the microbial cell membrane. Furthermore, it inhibits the multiplication and growth of those bacteria and fungi which cause infection, odour, itchiness and sores. Hence, nano-silver particles are widely applied to socks in order to prohibit the growth of bacteria. In addition, nano-silver can be applied to a range of other healthcare products such as dressings for burns, scald, skin donor and recipient sites.