Durability of Silver Nanoparticles Dispersed into Cotton Fiber during Consecutive Laundering

Silver nanoparticles (nanosilver) have increasingly been used for the production of odor-neutralizing and anti-infective textiles. Commercially available nanosilver-containing textile products contain silver ranging from 2 to 2900 mg/kg and release significant amounts of silver, i.e., up to 20-30% of the total silver in the textiles during the first washing. This study shows the strong dependence of the dispersion type of silver nanoparticles—internal versus external—for cotton on washing durability. The immobilization of silver nanoparticles by the internal dispersion was demonstrated during up to 50 laundering cycles.