Multifunctional Composite Based on Cotton Fabric and Starch-Copper Ferrite Hydrogel Prepared through Facile Room Temperature Preparation Approach

Hydrogels demonstrate interesting features and applications in various fields including biomedical, environmental, and smart materials. Unfortunately, they provide a favorable environment for growth of microorganisms without exhibiting adequate mechanical properties. To overcome these shortcomings and prepare a multifunctional nanocomposite, in this research a facile industrially applicable method is introduced for preparation of starch-copper ferrite hydrogel on cotton fabric at room temperature. The preparation conditions are optimized using central composite design based response surface methodology. The magnetic properties and swelling behavior of all samples are investigated and the optimal sample is selected for further characterization. XRD pattern indicates the presence and successful synthesis of copper ferrite and magnetite in hydrogel. FE-SEM images demonstrate unique structure shaped with nanosegments with symmetric multilateral shape and average size of 300 nm. The absorption capacity of nanocomposite rises to 3.96 g g(-1) indicating 253.57% improvement, and also exhibits 100% antibacterial activity against both Gram positive and negative model bacteria. In this manner, a promising nanocomposite with verified multifunctionality is proposed even as synthesis of copper ferrite and hydrogel attachment to the fabric are also merged to single-step via a simple method with hope of being applicable for scalable production.