Dual-functional amino-quinone coatings on cotton fabrics assembled with different molecular weight polyethyleneimine and dopamine

The bonding of textiles and surface coatings was often assisted by the use of chemical cross-linking agents. Inspired by mussel chemistry, we propose that the strategy of co-assembly of quinone compound (dopamine, DA) and amino compound (polyethyleneimine, PEI) to form amino-quinone network (AQN) coating can effectively solve the problem. In this work, the molecular weight of PEI was used to regulate the surface coating morphology and its properties on cotton fabrics.The results showed that the roughness (Ra) of AQN coatings formed on the surface of glass slides by DA and low, medium or high molecular weight PEI were 3.94, 24.1 or 71.4 nm, respectively. In addition, the antibacterial rates of AQN-coated cotton fabric against E. coli and S. aureus were above 98 %, and the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) value was above 50. After several washes, the antibacterial and UPF values only decreased by about 1 %, which indicates that AQN coating gives cotton fabric good antibacterial and UV protection properties, as well as strong bonds with cotton fabric.This provides insight into the wide application of AQN coating technology in the field of textile modification.