Obtenção de sistemas nanométricos do tipo O/A de óleos Cymbopogon Winterianus Jowitt e Azadirachta Indica A. Juss para aplicações em materiais têxteis na área da saúde

Abstract

Technical and functional textile materials have been extensively researched and developed for being used in many areas of science, environment and technological materials. In this context, the objective of this work was to develop a functional textile material with antimicrobial properties for various applications. Natural polymers with various properties and infinite applications in the textile area were used. It is known that fibrous materials require surface modification to confer different chemical and physical properties in order to become multifunctional materials. With the advent of nanotechnology, the techniques have been developed as being essential tools to qualitatively characterize these new materials. Essential oils have long been used by the industry, but today they are also widely used for functional finishes due to their efficacy without harming the final effects of textile materials. In this way, microemulsions are mainly used due to their higher solubilization, furthermore, for their numerous applications in chemical reactions, drug delivery and nanomaterials preparation. In this work, citronella (Cymbopogon Winterianus Jowitt) and neem (Azadirachta Indica A. Juss) oils were used as solubilized antimicrobial agents, in the form of microemulsions, for textile materials. Chitosan is a bioactive natural polymer and has a wide variety of applications due to its properties, also has antimicrobial properties and in this work, its function as textile fabric surface modifying agent, where a soybean cloth was used. The commercially available essential oils were, reduced into microemulsions. Two types of emulsifiers, a surface-active agent, “tween 80,” and a vegetable surface active agent were prepared using neem oil, a surface-active agent and co-taut, with distilled water, under constant stirring. The particle sizes of the microemulsions, were in the order between 7.21 and 7.52 nm. The emulsions exhibited very good chemical stability and considerable antimicrobial properties. Through TEM analysis, the formation of droplets in the microemulsions was confirmed. The vegetable surfactants demonstrated better solubility and pH recommended for their application as surfactants, and for antimicrobial activities, which were tested against the bacteria Escherichia Coli. The clothes were treated with PI and PII microemulsions, and tested for antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, where their growth was inhibited, considering, the bacterial activity being satisfactory, which helped in promoting its use in the surfactants to be employed in hospital environments.