Gajanan Bhat1, Prabhakar Gulgunje1, Rajan K. Vempati2, Brittany Lundy2, Xiang Hua2, Richard Wagner3, Martin Goldberg4, Michael Bennett4, and Padmakar Kulkarni4. (1) University of Tennessee, TANDEC, 434 Daugherty Engineering Bldg, Knoxville, TN 37996, (2) ChK Group, Inc., 2045 Belgium Drive, Plano, TX 75025, (3) Phycobiologics, Inc., 351 West 10th St., Indianapolis, IN, Indianapolis, IN 47407, (4) UT Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390-9058
Currently, nonwovens are one of the most significant developments of the textile industry. Collaborative studies are being conducted in our research program to take advantage of nanotechnology to produce functional nonwovens, and to improve their performance. We have demonstrated that by using conventional processes and equipments, one can produce several such products. Nanophase manganese (VII) oxide (NM7O) was shown to be a very stable and reactive chemical that can neutralize several chemicals. Incorporation of NM7O into cotton-based nonwoven fabrics successfully demonstrated the possibility to produce functional nonwovens suitable for a variety of applications. In addition, these nanophase NM7O incorporated nonwovens products exhibit excellent destruction and/or protection of algae and bacteria.
