Development of Bio and Non-Fluorinated Palmitic Acid Based Water Repellent for Cotton Fabric

Fluorinated compounds provide excellent oil and water repellency to cotton fabrics. But, they have various toxic effects on human health and the environment. To address this challenge, scientists are continuously struggling to develop the eco-friendly oil and water repellents. To support these efforts, this research focused on the synthesis of some bio-based and non-fluorinated oil and water repellent recipes for the cotton fabric through the polymerization of palmitic acid with an eco-friendly cross-linker “citric acid” considering the effects of catalyst, enhancer, time, temperature, and polymerization environment. After the numerous trials, an optimized water repellent finish has been developed. The performance of the cotton fabric treated with the newly developed water repellent was measured in terms of the oil and water repellency, crease recovery angle, contact angle, stain release, air permeability, shrinkage, washing durability, tensile strength, tear strength, and antimicrobial performance. Finally, the characterization of the optimized recipes and the treated fabric was performed through the various techniques such as H-NMR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results exhibited the successful synthesis and application of the newly developed recipes onto the cotton fabric.