Photothermal superhydrophobic textiles with antibacterial activity based on synergistic “repel-and-kill” mechanism

Abstract

The growth and reproduction of microorganisms on protective textiles pose a serious threat to personal health and public hygiene. However, the facile fabrication of textiles that integrate multiple antibacterial modes to achieve excellent antimicrobial performance remains challenging. In the present work, a dual-functional antibacterial textile with superhydrophobicity and photothermal effect was proposed through the introduction of a MXene layer and modification with hydrophobic silica/hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS/HSiO₂) coating. Benefitting from the uniform and compact HDTMS/HSiO₂-MXene coatings with crosslinkable structure and hierarchical roughness, the textile possessed durable superhydrophobicity, effectively resisting chemical and mechanical damages. Importantly, the MXene layer endowed the textile with excellent photothermal conversion capability, with the surface temperature stably increasing to over 110 °C under the cyclic irradiation of near-infrared (NIR) light. Integrating the anti-adhesion behavior of superhydrophobic surface with biocidal activity induced by heat energy, the textile achieved excellent antimicrobial performance with the antibacterial rate exceeding 99.8 % against various bacteria. The findings conceivably clarify a new methodology to fabricate robust photothermal superhydrophobic textiles for dealing with bacterial infection on health protective clothing through the synergistic “repel-and-kill” mechanism.