Colorful and Antibacterial Silk Fiber from Anisotropic Silver Nanoparticles

Anisotropic silver nanoparticles were coated on silk fibers to obtain colorful silk with good antibacterial properties. Different morphologies of silver nanoparticles gave different colors to the silk fibers, because of changes in the localized surface plasmon resonance of the nanoparticles. More efficiently, mixing of different silver nanoparticles in different proportions extended the range of colors. Unlike the conventional silk dyeing process, which is energy-intensive, the coloration process with silver nanoparticles was achieved at room temperature. The silk fibers displayed strong adsorption ability for silver nanoparticles during the coloration process. The modified silk fibers exhibited different bright colors as the silver nanoparticles on the surface of the fibers varied. Significantly, the silk fibers treated with silver nanoparticles showed significant antibacterial abilities against Escherichia coli. Moreover, good color fastness to washing was achieved through coating of polydimethylsiloxane on the surface of silk treated with silver nanoparticles.