Surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization on cotton fabric in water aqueous

In this work, 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide was first reacted with the hydroxyl groups on the surface of cotton fabric to obtain cotton macroinitiator (C-Br) for surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of (2-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). Then C-Br was grafted with DMAEMA via the ATRP method in water aqueous. The tertiary amino groups of immobilized DMAEMA polymer on the cotton fabric were quaternized with bromomethane to produce the antibacterial function. The structure of cotton-grafted-PDMAEMA (C-g-PDMAEMA) was characterized by attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microcopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that DMAEMA was grafted onto the surface of cotton and the tertiary amino groups were quaternized. The C-g-PDMAEMA has good thermostability. The whiteness and strength of C-g-PDMAEMA decreased slightly, but the wrinkle recovery angle increased distinctly compared with the control sample. The quaternized grafted cotton has the great antibacterial property and good laundry resistance.