{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,1]],"date-time":"2026-08-01T09:09:21Z","timestamp":1785575361168,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":56,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"22","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,9]],"date-time":"2022-11-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1667952000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"United States Department of Agriculture\u2014Agricultural Research Service"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>With increasingly frequent highly infectious global pandemics, the textile industry has responded by developing commercial fabric products by incorporating antibacterial metal oxide nanoparticles, particularly copper oxide in cleaning products and personal care items including antimicrobial wipes, hospital gowns and masks. Current methods use a surface adsorption method to functionalize nanomaterials to fibers. However, this results in poor durability and decreased antimicrobial activity after consecutive launderings. In this study, cuprous oxide nanoparticles with nanoflower morphology (Cu2O nanoflowers) are synthesized in situ within the cotton fiber under mild conditions and without added chemical reducing agents from a copper (II) precursor with an average maximal Feret diameter of 72.0 \u00b1 51.8 nm and concentration of 17,489 \u00b1 15 mg\/kg. Analysis of the Cu2O NF-infused cotton fiber cross-section by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirmed the internal formation, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the copper (I) reduced oxidation state. An exponential correlation (R2 = 0.9979) between the UV-vis surface plasmon resonance (SPR) intensity at 320 nm of the Cu2O NFs and the concentration of copper in cotton was determined. The laundering durability of the Cu2O NF-cotton fabric was investigated, and the superior nanoparticle-leach resistance was observed, with the fabrics releasing only 19% of copper after 50 home laundering cycles. The internally immobilized Cu2O NFs within the cotton fiber exhibited continuing antibacterial activity (\u226599.995%) against K. pneumoniae, E. coli and S. aureus), complete antifungal activity (100%) against A. niger and antiviral activity (\u226590%) against Human coronavirus, strain 229E, even after 50 laundering cycles.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules27227706","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,10]],"date-time":"2022-11-10T02:11:15Z","timestamp":1668046275000},"page":"7706","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Intrafibrillar Dispersion of Cuprous Oxide (Cu2O) Nanoflowers within Cotton Cellulose Fabrics for Permanent Antibacterial, Antifungal and Antiviral Activity"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3960-7657","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matthew B.","family":"Hillyer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research Unit, Southern Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, New Orleans, LA 70124, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4059-606X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sunghyun","family":"Nam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research Unit, Southern Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, New Orleans, LA 70124, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brian D.","family":"Condon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research Unit, Southern Regional Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, New Orleans, LA 70124, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1350","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.chemrev.9b00137","article-title":"Role of Polymer Structures in Catalysis by Transition Metal and Metal Oxide Nanoparticle Composites","volume":"120","author":"Shifrina","year":"2020","journal-title":"Chem. 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