Surface modification of textile materials by self assembly of molecular layers

Abstract

Polyelectrolytes and metal-organic frameworks can be used to create coatings of fabrics within the nanometer scale. These coatings are formed by the layer-by-layer adsorption of polycations and polycations or cations and suitable carboxylic acids. The resulting layers formed with polyelectrolytes and the metal-organic frameworks are very stable against mechanical stress. These different kinds of coatings have been applied to different textile materials, e.g. fabrics made from polyester, polyacrylonitrile, cotton and wool. Even starting with rough surfaces as in case of wool the formation of well-ordered structures can be observed.