Fabrication of Bioinspired ZnO-Based Antibacterial Cotton Fabrics and Their Microbial Inhibition Performance

Antimicrobial cotton fabrics are essential for preventing bacterial infections. This study develops a water-resistant antimicrobial cotton fabric by constructing a dragonfly wing-inspired ZnO nanorod array on fiber surfaces via a hydrothermal method, followed by silver doping and hydrophobic modification with HDTMS. The resulting HDTMS-Ag3/ZnO/Cot exhibits excellent antibacterial activity, achieving >99.99% bactericidal rates against E. coli and S. aureus. Notably, this high efficiency remains stable even after 50 accelerated washing cycles, demonstrating exceptional durability. The hydrophobic modification imparts a water contact angle of 158.4°, which significantly reduces bacterial adhesion by 91.7% for E. coli and 91.4% for S. aureus. Furthermore, the fabric shows effective antibiofilm activity and no cytotoxicity. This work presents a simple and efficient strategy for fabricating durable, multifunctional antibacterial textiles, with promising applications in medical protection, high-performance apparel, and sportswear.