Fabrication of the multifunctional durable silk fabric with synthesized graphene oxide nanosheets

Multifunctional silk fabric with ultraviolet radiation protection and antibacterial activity was successfully fabricated by grafting graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet dispersion onto the surface of the fabric. The structure and morphology of the as-obtained modified silk fabrics were characterized by SEM, AFM, FTIR and Raman, and the results indicate that the synthetic GO nanosheet distribute uniformly onto the surface of the silk fabric, and there is one hydrogen bonding between silk fabric and GO. As expected, the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) was applied to evaluate UV blocking and the silk fabrics modified with GO showed more than 54-fold increase with a UPF value of 232.69 than that of control silk (UPF rating at 4.28). Furthermore, GO treated silk fabric showed excellent antibacterial activity with the survival rates of E. coli and S. aureus of (14.2 +/- 4.1) % and (4.8 +/- 1.6)% respectively. Moreover, the GO treatment had little effect on the permeability of fabrics. The GO treated silk fabric is effective for cycling use. The functional silk fabrics can be applied to high-grade outdoor leisure fabrics.