Trovato Valentina, Mezzi Alessio, Brucale Marco, Abdeh Hamed, Drommi Dario, Rosace Giuseppe, Plutino Maria Rosaria
Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Bergamo, Viale Marconi 5, 24044 Dalmine, Italy.
Institute for the Study of Nanostructured Materials, ISMN-CNR, Via Salaria Km 29.3, 00015 Monterotondo Stazione, Italy.
Polymers (Basel). 2022 Jul 8;14(14):2788. doi: 10.3390/polym14142788.
In the field of stimuli-responsive materials, introducing a pH-sensitive dyestuff onto textile fabrics is a promising approach for the development of wearable sensors. In this paper, the alizarin red S dyestuff bonded with a sol-gel precursor, namely trimethoxy-[3-(oxiran-2-ylmethoxy)propyl]silane, was used to functionalize polyethylene terephthalate fabrics, a semi-crystalline thermoplastic polyester largely used in the healthcare sector mainly due to its advantages, including mechanical strength, biocompatibility and resistance against abrasion and chemicals. The obtained hybrid halochromic silane-based coating on polyester fabrics was investigated with several chemical characterization techniques. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy confirmed the immobilization of the dyestuff-based silane matrix onto polyethylene terephthalate samples through self-condensation of hydrolyzed silanols under the curing process. The reversibility and repeatability of pH-sensing properties of treated polyester fabrics in the pH range 2.0-8.0 were confirmed with diffuse reflectance and CIELAB color space characterizations. Polyester fabric functionalized with halochromic silane-based coating shows the durability of halochromic properties conversely to fabric treated with plain alizarin red S, thus highlighting the potentiality of the sol-gel approach in developing durable halochromic coating on synthetic substrates. The developed wearable pH-meter device could find applications as a non-invasive pH sensor for wellness and healthcare fields.
在刺激响应材料领域，将对pH敏感的染料引入纺织面料是开发可穿戴传感器的一种很有前景的方法。在本文中，与溶胶-凝胶前驱体三甲氧基-[3-(环氧乙烷-2-基甲氧基)丙基]硅烷结合的茜素红S染料被用于使聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯织物功能化，聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯是一种半结晶热塑性聚酯，主要因其机械强度、生物相容性以及耐磨损和耐化学性等优点而在医疗保健领域大量使用。用几种化学表征技术对在聚酯织物上获得的基于硅烷的混合卤色涂层进行了研究。傅里叶变换红外光谱和X射线光电子能谱证实了在固化过程中，基于染料的硅烷基质通过水解硅醇的自缩合固定在聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯样品上。通过漫反射和CIELAB颜色空间表征证实了处理后的聚酯织物在2.0 - 8.0的pH范围内pH传感特性的可逆性和可重复性。与用普通茜素红S处理的织物相反，用基于硅烷的卤色涂层功能化的聚酯织物显示出卤色特性的耐久性，从而突出了溶胶-凝胶方法在合成基材上开发耐用卤色涂层的潜力。所开发的可穿戴pH计装置可作为用于健康和医疗保健领域的非侵入式pH传感器找到应用。
