Chitosan Application in Textile Processing

Traditional textile products from fibres such as wool, cotton, silk, polyester, etc. are unable to meet the increasing demand for aesthetics, comfort, healthcare and industrial applications. Functional fabrics possessing antibacterial, anti-wrinkle, dyeing, antistatic and other special properties have received broad attention in the textile industry and fashion world. Chitosan is a product obtained by deacetylation of chitin, which is widely distributed in nature (e.g. shellfish, insects and certain fungi). It has multiple applications in the biomedical and other areas due to its characteristics of excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, ecological safety, non-toxicity and its versatile biological effects such as antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor activity and low immunogenicity [1,2]. Chitosan has been utilized as an eco-friendly finishing agent to develop functional fabrics in the textile industry [3,4]. This article will present brief of chitosan applications in antibacterial, anti-wrinkle, dyeing and antistatic finishing of textiles (Figure 1).