Fabricating multifunctional lyocell fabric with cationic nanospheres: enhanced anti-fibrillation, with no strength loss, and green dyeability

Sustainable lyocell fiber is widely used to manufacture various high-end low carbon and green textile products. However, fibrillation usually occurred during wet processing, causing severe pilling and poor appearance. The current anti-fibrillation methods still suffer from strength loss or unsatisfactory anti-fibrillation performance, and the functional modification of lyocell fibers is generally a distinct processing stage, which causes more water consumption. The present study reported a new strategy for fabricating multifunctional lyocell textiles using cationic P(St-BA-DMC) nanospheres with an average diameter of 90.9 nm and zeta potential of + 49.4 mV. The nanospheres were adsorbed on the negatively charged lyocell fiber surfaces through electrostatic forces when the fibers were treated with the nanosphere suspension. FTIR, SEM, and XPS revealed that when cured at 150 °C, the core–shell-structure nanospheres on the fibers spread into dot membranes like frying eggs, which made the fiber much more hydrophobic through the lotus effect. As a result, the fiber swelling rate reduced from 23.7% to 7%, while the bursting strength of the knitted fabric was not changed significantly. The air permeability at the wet state increased by 30.5% compared to the original fabric. Additionally, the treated fabric’s antibacterial rate against S. aureus reached 97%. The lyocell fabric was endowed with anti-fibrillation, higher air permeability, and anti-bacterial functions without significant strength loss. Moreover, the dyeability of treated fabric was greatly enhanced. This work provides a new strategy for the anti-fibrillation and functionalization of low-carbon lyocell textiles.