Prolonged antibacterial action of CuO-coated cotton fabric in tropical climate

The paper reports the results of a large-scale testing of antibacterial textiles with extremely stable and long-lasting copper oxide coating. Using disk diffusion method, ICP-OES and specific lux biosensors it was shown that the coating does not leach copper ions into the environment. Laboratory experiments performed according to the ISO 20743 protocol showed high antibacterial activity of the produced coating, up to complete growth suppression for some strains. The long-term field tests were carried out in a tropical climate, at the Climate test station “Hoa Lac” (Hanoi city, Vietnam). The number of microorganisms on the textile materials remained within the range of 1–3% in comparison with the control sample for the entire duration of the field exposure (12 months).