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Chitosan microencapsulation of various essential

oils to enhance the functional properties of
cotton fabric

Article in Journal of Microencapsulation · February 2014

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J Microencapsul, Early Online: 1–8

! 2014 Informa UK Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/02652048.2013.879927

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Chitosan microencapsulation of various essential oils to enhance the

functional properties of cotton fabric
Amjed Javid1, Zulfiqar Ali Raza1, Tanveer Hussain1, and Asma Rehman2
1
Chemistry Research Laboratory, National Textile University, Faisalabad, Pakistan and 2National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic
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Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Pakistan

Abstract Keywords
The present study dealt with emulsive fabrication of chitosan microcapsules encapsulating Antibacterial activity, emulsion, FTIR,
essential oils in the present of bio/surfactant. The size distribution, morphology and stability of microencapsulation, particle size, SEM
microcapsules were examined by using advanced surface characterisation techniques. At cetyl
trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) concentration of 330 mg/L, the smallest average size of History
microcapsules was observed as12.8 mm; whereas with biosurfactant at 50 mg/L, the microcap-
sules of smallest average size of 7.5 mm were observed. The fabricated microcapsules were Received 19 April 2013
applied on a desized, bleached and mercerised cotton fabric by using pad-dry-cure method by Revised 27 November 2013
using a modified dihydroxy ethylene urea as a cross-linking agent. The cross-linking was Accepted 2 December 2013
confirmed by using scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy Published online 4 February 2014
techniques. The antibacterial activity of finished fabric was evaluated using the turbidity
estimation method. The stiffness and wrinkle recovery properties of the treated fabric were also
For personal use only.

investigated by using the standard methods. In general, antibacterial activity of treated fabric
increased with the increase in chitosan and essential oil concentrations, whereas stiffness
increased with increase in concentration of chitosan but decreased with increase in essential oil
concentration.

Introduction have been developed. These compounds are bactericidal in nature

and may cause skin irritation and eco-toxicity (Joshi et al., 2009).
Functionalisation of textiles is an approach to improve the native
Chitosan derived from chitin by a deacetylation reaction is a
properties as well as to impart new functions in the textile
biodegradable, biocompatible and non-toxic molecule. It has
products. The functional finishes impart new properties such as
antimicrobial activity against a broad spectrum of organisms
UV resistance, photo-catalytic activity, flame retardency, anti-
(Ye et al., 2005). Essential oils are a mixture of a variety of
biotic, antistatic, antimicrobial activity and wrinkle recovery to
aromatic compounds. Due to the presence of volatile aromatic
the fabrics (Gowri et al., 2010; Ammayappan et al., 2011; Sunder
compounds, essential oils cause fragrance and provide protection
and Nalankilli, 2012; Gulrajani, 2013). With the increased public
from microbes (Vimal et al., 2013). They have different pharma-
awareness, people are becoming more conscious about health and
ceutical and sedative effects due to their pleasant fragrance.
hygiene-related issues. It is necessary to protect the people from
Hence, essential oils could be applied on the textile materials to
cross infection caused by the pathogens. The problem of cross
fulfill the psychological, sedative and emotional requirements of
infection becomes prominent in the case of textile materials such
human body and to obtain antimicrobial textile products (Buckle,
as pillow cases, bed sheets, drapes, gowns and masks which are
2002; Wang and Chen, 2005).
frequently used in hospitals. These materials may carry micro-
During microencapsulation, tiny particles of solid, liquid or
organisms which may transfer to patients, hospital staff and
gas are entrapped as core material inside a shell material. The
visitors (Thelagavath and Kannaian, 2008). Natural fibres such as
core materials may include drugs, proteins, antimicrobial agents,
cotton, wool and silk are more susceptible to microbial attack than
hormones, dyes, flame retardants, phase change materials and
synthetics as their porous and hydrophilic structure retains more
fragrances while the formation of shell constitutes natural or
moisture, oxygen and nutrients required for microbial growth
synthetic polymers, metal or inorganic oxides. The potential
(Abo-Shosha et al., 2008). The textile substrates finished with
applications of microencapsulation could be found in different
antimicrobial agents are hygienically safe products when worn
types of finishes such as insect repellents, antimicrobial agents,
next to the skin. In the last few decades, many synthetic
aroma, antibiotics, flame retardants, cosmetic textiles, polychro-
antimicrobial agents such as triclosan, metals and their salts,
mic, thermo-chromic and many more (Palanikkumaran et al.,
organometallics, phenols and quaternary ammonium compounds
2010). The size and zeta potential of chitosan microcapsules
might depend upon the weight ratio of core-, shell- and coating
materials, surfactant, anti-adherence, and other process conditions
(Huanbutta et al., 2008).
Address for correspondence: Zulfiqar Ali Raza, Chemistry Research
Laboratory, National Textile University, Faisalabad – 37610, Pakistan.
Although most essential oils are antimicrobial, yet they did not
Tel: +92 41 9230081. Fax: +92 41 9230098. E-mail: gain attention as antimicrobial agents due to their volatile nature
zarazapk@yahoo.com leading to poor lasting effect. To enhance their durability, chitosan
 2 A. Javid et al. J Microencapsul, Early Online: 1–8

could be used to encapsulate the essential oils. The aim of the
present study is to achieve both antibacterial and performance
characteristics of fabric in which microcapsules of chitosan were
prepared with separate eucalyptus and sandal wood oils in the
presence of bio/surfactant. These microcapsules were charac-
terised physico-chemically and applied on the cotton fabric. The
treated fabric was examined for antibacterial and physio-chemical
characteristics.
Materials and methods
Materials
Desized, bleached and mercerised 100% cotton woven fabric
(surface mass density 130 g/m2; warp and weft yarn counts 40/1
Ne; 100 ends and 80 picks per inch, and CIE whiteness 80) was
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homogeneous emulsions. In another set of experiments, 25, 50
or 100 biosurfactant mg/L were added, replacing CTAB. The
emulsions were further mechanically shaked at 2000 rpm for
15 min to convert the bulk oils into micro-sized particles which
were stabilised in aqueous system. The emulsions were then
dripped into 0.75% (w/w) NaOH solution with slow stirring to
precipitate the microcapsules, which were allowed to stabilise for
24 h and then filtered through Whatmann filter paper No. 42. The
microcapsules were washed thoroughly with deionised water to
remove any traces of NaOH or other impurities. Finally, the
microcapsules were obtained in the form of aqueous dispersion to
apply on cotton fabric. The details of the experimental design are
given in Table 1.
Microcapsule size measurement

obtained from Chenab Ltd. (Faisalabad, Pakistan). Chitosan,

obtained from crab shells with 490% purity and degree of
deacetylation of 90% was purchased from Bio Basic Inc.
(Markham, Canada) and acetic acid from Acros Organics (Fair
Lawn, NJ). Cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and
NaOH were purchased from MP Biomedicals, LLC (Santa Ana,
CA) and nutrient broth from Aqua Medic Inc. (Michigan, MI). All
the chemicals were of analytical grade and used without further
purification. Knittex RCT (cross-linking agent) and Knittex
catalyst MO (catalyst) were donated by Huntsman (Salt Lake
City, UT), and eucalyptus and sandalwood oils were purchased
from the local market. Rhamnolipid surfactant (biosurfactant) was
obtained from bacterial culture as reported earlier (Raza et al.,
2009). All the solutions were prepared in deionised water.
For personal use only.
Average sizes of chitosan-based microcapsules were measured
by using a Zeta sizer (ZEN 3600, Malvern Instruments,
Worcestershire, UK).
Application of microcapsules
The microcapsules dispersion was diluted, if required, by
adding deionised water. Low temperature cross-linking
agent (modified dihydroxy ethylene urea; 40 g/L) catalysed by
Knittex catalyst MO (10 g/L) was used to bind the microcapsules
on the cotton fabric. The fabric was immersed in the dispersion
for 1 min and squeezed at a pick up of 85–90%, followed by
drying at 100  C for 2 min and curing at 125  C for 1 min at
stenter.

Bacterial strains
Bacterial strains of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus
for antibacterial study were kindly donated by the culture
collection centre of NIBGE, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Preparation of chitosan/essential oil microcapsules
Microcapsules of chitosan were prepared by emulsion method.
Three concentrations of chitosan (3.33, 6.67 and 13.33 g/L) were
separately vortexed vigorously in 1% aqueous acetic acid solution
for 1 min to obtain homogeneous solutions. Then various
concentrations of essential oil (eucalyptus or sandalwood) 10,
30, 60 g/L and CTAB 160, 330 and 500 mg/L were added to the
chitosan solutions and vortexed for 1 min to produce
Phase contrast microscopy
The aqueous dispersions of microcapsules were visualised by
using an Olympus CX41 (Tokyo, Japan) optical microscope at a
magnification of  100.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
The morphology of the microcapsules bound on the cotton fabric
was analysed using a scanning electron microscope (JSM-5910,
JEOL, Tokyo, Japan). Each sample was coated with sputtered
gold, fixed in the sample holder and examined at an acceleration
voltage of 10 kV and over developed for 10 min to enhance the
contrast.

Table 1. Preparation of microcapsules through emulsification method at various concentrations of chitosan, essential oil, CTAB surfactant and
biosurfactant.

Code Chitosan, g/L (±SD) Essential* oil, g/L (±SD) Chitosan to oil ratio CTAB, mg/L (±SD) Biosurfactant, mg/L (±SD)
CES 01 6.67 ± 0.10 – NA 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 02 13.33 ± 0.20 10.00 ± 0.20 1:0.75 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 03 6.67 ± 0.10 10.00 ± 0.20 1:1.5 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 04 13.33 ± 0.20 30.00 ± 0.60 1:2.25 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 05 3.33 ± 0.05 10.00 ± 0.20 1:3.0 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 06 6.67 ± 0.10 30.00 ± 0.60 1:4.5 – –
CES 07 6.67 ± 0.10 30.00 ± 0.60 1:4.5 160.00 ± 3.20 –
CES 08 6.67 ± 0.10 30.00 ± 0.60 1:4.5 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 09 6.67 ± 0.10 30.00 ± 0.60 1:4.5 500.00 ± 10.00 –
CES 10 13.33 ± 0.20 60.00 ± 0.60 1:4.5 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 11 3.33 ± 0.05 30.00 ± 0.60 1:9.0 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 12 6.67 ± 0.10 60.00 ± 1.20 1:9.0 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 13 3.33 ± 0.05 60.00 ± 1.20 1:18.0 330.00 ± 6.60 –
CES 14 6.67 ± 0.10 30.00 ± 0.60 1:4.5 – 25 ± 0.5
CES 15 6.67 ± 0.10 30.00 ± 0.60 1:4.5 – 50 ± 1.0
CES 16 6.67 ± 0.10 30.00 ± 0.60 1:4.5 – 100 ± 1.5

Note: SD, standard deviation; NA, not applicable.

*Eucalyptus or sandalwood.
 DOI: 10.3109/02652048.2013.879927 Chitosan microencapsulation of essential oils 3

FTIR spectroscopy
The presence of oils in the chitosan microcapsules on the treated
fabric was determined by using an Attenuated Total Reflectance-
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR, Bruker
Tensor 27) at wavelengths between 500 and 4000 cm1. The
ATR-FTIR was equipped with ZnSe grid that allows recording the
FTIR spectra directly on a specimen placed on grid without any
special preparation. Forty scans from each sample were collected
and superimposed at a resolution of 4 cm1.
Measurement of antibacterial activity of fabric
A dispersion of nutrient broth was prepared by adding 8.0 g of it in
1 L of deionised water. The fresh inoculum was prepared by
transferring a loop-full of separate E. coli and S. aureus species in
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dimensions. In this study, the solid phase chitosan was used as the
shell material and liquid phase essential oil as the core material.
Moreover, the desirable capsulated finish, essential oil in this
case, could be controlled and released depending on various
physico-chemical and environmental conditions. Whereas, other
methods of microcapsules fabrication do not provide such a wide
range of productivity and applicability.
Effect of essential oil/chitosan concentrations on the
average size of microcapsule
During the preparation of essential oil/chitosan microcapsules,
a decrease in average size of the microcapsules was observed
at chitosan concentration of 6.67 or 13.33 g/L on increasing
the essential oil concentration from 10 to 30. However, an
increase in size was noted on further increase in essential oil

25 mL nutrient broth media in Erlenmeyer flasks and incubated in
orbital shaker at 100 rpm and 37  C for overnight. The quantitative
estimation of antibacterial activity was carried out by turbido-
metric method (Miraftab et al., 2011). In this method, the killing
curves of replicate cultures grown in glass tubes are drawn for the
measurement of related bacterial viability. An aliquot of 9 mL of
prepared nutrient broth medium was transferred to 20 mL screw
capped glass tubes and autoclaved at 121  C for 15 min. The
freshly prepared inoculum was used for the measurement of
antibacterial activity of fabric samples. The fabric samples, each of
0.1 g weight, were added in the glass tubes. An aliquot of 20 mL
of the bacterial culture diluted up to 105 was used for the
inoculation of the glass tubes containing the nutrient broth and
fabric sample. These glass tubes were placed in an incubator at
37  C for 24 h. The control tubes were incubated with bacterial
For personal use only.
concentration up to 60 g/L. The smallest microcapsules of
diameter 12.9 mm were found at chitosan and eucalyptus oil
concentrations of 6.67 and 30 g/L, respectively; whereas at 3.33
chitosan g/L, a continuous increase in the average size of
microcapsules was observed with increase in eucalyptus oil con-
centration. It is attributed to the average size of microcapsule
dependence upon the ratios of aqueous phase to oil, chitosan to oil
and chitosan to aqueous phase. At 3.33 g chitosan/L, increased
average microcapsular size was observed with increase in
eucalyptus oil concentration. This might be due to decrease in

suspension but inserted with untreated cotton fabric. The turbidity

of culture medium was measured at 600 nm using a UV–Vis
spectrophotometer (Spectra 22, LaboMed, Inc., Los Angeles, CA).

Measurement of fabric stiffness

The stiffness of cotton fabric was measured by using the standard
test method ASTM-D1388. It is based on the cantilever bending
principle. Briefly, a rectangular fabric sample was placed on the
smooth horizontal platform with a weighed slide on it. The fabric
with weighed slide was moved forward at constant speed. It bent
due to its own weight as it projected from the smooth surface. The
movement of fabric was stopped when it touched the bending Figure 1. Effect of essential oil and chitosan concentrations on average
angle indicator. The length of the fabric strip was measured in Zeta size of microcapsules at CTAB concentration of 330 mg/L. Chitosan
centimetres. with eucalyptus oil (g/L): 3.33 (—m—), 6.67 (– –m– –), 13.33 (. . .m. . .)
and chitosan with sandalwood oil (g/L): 3.33 (——), 6.67 (– –– –),
13.33 (. . .. . .).
Measurement of crease recovery of fabric
The ability of the treated fabric to recover from creasing was
analysed according to the standard test method ISO 2313:1972.
Briefly, a fabric specimen was folded to make a crease between
the two glass plates under a load of 2 kg for 1 min. After the
removal of load, the specimen was allowed to relax for 1 min. The
one end of the specimen was fixed in the spring loaded clamp
while the other end was free to recover its original uncreased
shape. The clamp was rotated slowly to make the free end in the
vertical position. Deflection of the rotating clamp was measured
in terms of angle which was the measurement of crease recovery
of cotton fabric. The crease recovery of fabric was measured both
in warp- and weft-wise. All the experiments were conducted in
three independent replicates and the results reported are the
average of three concordant readings.

Results and discussion

Figure 2. Effect of CTAB surfactant (––) and biosurfactant (–m–)
The emulsion method enables us to fabricate dual phase soft concentrations on average Zeta size of microcapsules with essential oil
micro-structures of chitosan-based microcapsules of required (30 g/L) chitosan (6.67 g/L).
 4 A. Javid et al.
the ratio of aqueous phase to oil. Nevertheless in the case of
chitosan (6.67 or 3.33 g/L), the minimal average size microcap-
sules were obtained at eucalyptus oil concentration of 30 g/L
as shown in Figure 1.
The ratios of chitosan to oil were set as 1.0:0.75 and 1.0:2.25
and 1.0:4.5. The ratio of chitosan (6.67 g/L) to oil of 1.0:4.5
resulted in the minimum average microcapsule size; below
this ratio, oil particles made aggregation due to less availability
of chitosan to form shell over oil particles; whereas at higher
ratio the chitosan formed the layers over the oil particles to
enlarge the size of microcapsule as a whole. The average
microcapsule size for the concentration of chitosan 13.33 g/L
exhibited the same trend as with 6.67 g chitosan/L. Jiamrungraksa
and Charuchinda (2010) reported that the microcapsule size
increased significantly on increasing the essential oil concentration
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encapsulated in sodium alginate of fixed concentration. Wang et al.
(2009) also found that the size of the microcapsules reduced when
the ratio of essential oil to aqueous phase decreased.
Effect of bio/surfactant concentration on average size
of microcapsule
With the chemical surfactant, microcapsules of minimal size
(12.8 mm) were achieved at 330 mg CTAB/L whereas the
rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced microcapsules of as lower
size as 7.5 mm at 50 mg biosurfactant/L, as shown in Figure 2. The
presence of bio/surfactants in oil/aqueous media above their
critical micelle concentration (CMC) resulted in self-aggregation
to fabricate microcapsules of chitosan-entrapping essential oil.
For personal use only.
Optical microscopy of microcapsules
Morphology of microcapsules of chitosan was investigated by
capturing the optical micrographs of microcapsules after their
precipitation in alkaline media, then washing and dispersing in the
deionised water (Figure 3). Optical micrographs show that the
microcapsules fabricated in different morphologies and shapes
majorly spherical with minimum aggregation in them. The
microcapsules with non-uniform size were observed with clear
distinction between shell and core materials. Such non-uniformity
of size might be due to the partial agglomeration of oil particles
before encapsulation, especially when concentration of essential
oil was high.
Scanning electron microscopy of cotton fabrics
Figure 4 shows the SEM images of untreated and treated cotton
fabrics with microcapsular dispersions. The images of
the microcapsules confirmed the prevalence and adhesion of
microcapsules effectively to the surface of cotton fabric.
Figure 3. Optical micrographs of
microcapsules with chitosan (6.67 g/L),
eucalyptus oil (10 g/L) (a) and sandalwood
oil (30 g/L) (b) at CTAB concentration of
330 mg/L and magnification 100.
J Microencapsul, Early Online: 1–8
The microcapsules were uniformly distributed on the fabric
surface and no agglomeration was found.
FTIR of cotton fabrics
The FTIR spectrum exhibited absorption value at 3336 cm1 due
to the presence of hydroxyl group in the cellulose structure and a
peak at 2894 is due to C–H stretching (Figure 5a). The absorption
value at 3400 cm1 is assigned to the amino group of chitosan
(Figure 5b). The peak at the wave number 1158 cm1 shows the
presence of C–O–C stretching. The spectrum shows aromatic
C–H bending at 1500–1700 cm1. The spectrum exhibits the
peaks of hydroxyl and amine groups of modified dihydroxy
ethylene urea at 3300–3500 cm1 (Figure 5c). The main compo-
nents of essential oils are a-pinene, b-pinene, a-phellandrene,
1,8-cineole, limonene, terpinen-4-ol, aromadendrene, epiglobulol,
piperitone and globulol which consists of the groups of ¼C–H,
C¼O, etc. The absorption value at 1723 cm1 is due to the
presence of the carbonyl group of essential oils. The band
at 1598 cm1 is due to the ¼C–H stretching (Figure 5d).
The stronger absorption value in all spectra is observed at
2860–2911 cm1 due to C–H stretching.
Antibacterial activity of treated cotton fabrics
The antibacterial activity of the fabric treated with microcapsules
of chitosan with essential oils is graphically represented in
Figure 6. The untreated fabric exhibited a higher turbidity
resulting in lower bacterial resistance. The concentration of
chitosan had remarkable effect on bacterial resistance. The
maximum bacterial resistance was observed at chitosan to oil
ratio of 1:4.5. With the increase in chitosan concentration from
zero to 6.67 g/L, the antibacterial activity first enhanced and then
reduced on reaching a higher value of 13.33 g/L. The minimal size
microcapsule (12.8 mm) fabricated at the above-mentioned
chitosan to oil ratio (1:4.5) might have facilitated their easy
adsorption onto bacterial cell wall. The larger size microcapsules
above and below this ratio might have found difficulty in
adsorption resulting in reduced antibacterial activity. The treated
fabric showed greater resistance against S. aureus as compared to
E. coli. Zhang et al. (2003) reported that a reduced bacterial
growth at lower concentration might be due to the lower
availability of cationic sites leading to the more adsorption and
reduced antibacterial activity. At higher concentrations the
increased viscosity of the solution might form a thick coating
and result in lower adsorption of chitosan into the bacterial cell.
Due to higher concentration, a coating might be formed on the
cell which reduce the surface interactions and lower the antibac-
terial activity.
 DOI: 10.3109/02652048.2013.879927
Journal of Microencapsulation Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Sung Kyun Kwan University on 02/17/14
For personal use only.
Figure 4. SEM images of untreated cotton fabric (a), and treated cotton fabric with chitosan, (6.67 g/L), CTAB (330 mg/L) and sandalwood oil (30 g/L)
(b), or eucalyptus oil (30 g/L) (c) at magnification  1000 with respective higher magnification  10 000 (inset c).
The concentration of essential oil (Figure 6b) had significant
effect on the antibacterial activity of the fabric. An increase in oil
concentration resulted in the decreased absorption value and
increase in the antibacterial activity. In the case of biosurfactants,
the highest antibacterial activity was exhibited for 7.5 mm-sized
essential oil encapsulated chitosan microcapsules were fabricated
at biosurfactant concentration of 50 mg/L (Figure 6c),
i.e. approximately at the CMC of biosurfactant. Vanit et al.
(2010) observed that the clove oil showed very little activity at
lower concentration. An increase in concentration causes the
enhanced resistance against microorganisms. Arici et al. (2005)
analysed that the potential of essential oils to resist microorgan-
isms became more effective on increasing the concentration of oil.
Bending length and crease recovery of treated cotton
fabrics
The treated fabric was evaluated for performance characteristics
like bending length and crease recovery. The bending length of
the fabric prior to finishing treatment was also measured to
analyse the effect of chemical agents. The bending length of
treated fabric along both warp and weft directions increased with
the increase in chitosan to oil ratio. The effect of chitosan
concentration on fabric bending length is shown in Figure 7(a). As
the concentration of chitosan increased, the greater amount of
chitosan microcapsules might have deposited into the interstices
of the fabric leading to limit the inter fibre movements and
eventually resulting in increased bending length. A significant
increase in bending length was observed after finish application,
which is attributed to the stiffening behaviour of cross-linking
agent as it generated the cross-links between the adjacent fibres.
The cross-linked fibres were unable to move upon the fabric
Chitosan microencapsulation of essential oils 5
deformation resulting in an enhanced bending length. A decre-
ment in bending length was observed with the increase in oil
concentration as shown in Figure 7(b). The increase in oil
concentration enhanced the oil contents in the microcapsules to
make the fabric softer.
Figure 8 depicts the effect of chitosan and oil concentrations
on the crease recovery of cotton fabric. The increase in crease
recovery angle both along warp and weft directions was observed
with the increase in chitosan concentration. Cotton fibres
containing large number of hydroxyl groups undergo creasing
problems due to the snarling of cellulose macromolecules, when
twisted, rubbed, washed or worn. Chitosan forms a network
between the fibres to reduce the snarling and eventually causing to
improve the crease recovery of the treated fabric. The cross-
linking agent also exhibited a significant effect to enhance the
crease recovery angle by cross-linking the hydroxyl groups of
cotton fibres. The graphical representation shows that the oil
concentration did not cause any remarkable change in the crease-
resistant behaviour of the fabric. As essential oil was entrapped in
the microcapsule of chitosan, it did not exhibit any direct
interaction with the hydroxyl groups of cellulose.
Conclusions
The present study investigated that the size of microcapsule of
chitosan with essential oils was affected by varying the concen-
trations of chitosan, essential oil and surfactant/biosurfactant. The
concentration of biosurfactant used to obtain smaller size
microcapsule is quite less than the concentration of chemical
surfactant CTAB. The concentration of essential oil and chitosan
both affect the antibacterial activity of fabric. The antibacterial
activity of fabric increases with the increase in chitosan
 Journal of Microencapsulation Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Sung Kyun Kwan University on 02/17/14
For personal use only.
6
A. Javid et al.

Figure 5. FTIR spectra of untreated (a), and treated cotton fabric with chitosan (b), with chitosan and cross-linker (c), and with chitosan, cross-linker and eucalyptus oil (d).
J Microencapsul, Early Online: 1–8
 DOI: 10.3109/02652048.2013.879927 Chitosan microencapsulation of essential oils 7
Journal of Microencapsulation Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Sung Kyun Kwan University on 02/17/14
For personal use only.

Figure 6. Effect of chitosan (a) and essential oil (b) concentrations on the antibacterial activity of treated cotton fabric at essential oil (30 g/L) and
chitosan (6.67 g/L), respectively, at CTAB (330 mg/L), and effect of biosurfactant concentration (c) against E. coli (eucalyptus oil) (—m—), S. aureus
(eucalyptus oil) (– –m– –) E. coli (sandalwood oil) (——) and S. aureus (sandalwood oil) (– –– –).

Figure 7. Effect of chitosan (a, b) and essential oil (c, d) concentrations on the bending length of treated cotton fabric at eucalyptus oil (30 g/L) and
chitosan (6.67 g/L), respectively, at CTAB (330 mg/L). Warp (eucalyptus oil) (—m—), weft (eucalyptus oil) (– –m– –), Warp (sandalwood oil)
(——), Weft (sandalwood oil) (– –– –).
 8 A. Javid et al.
Journal of Microencapsulation Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by Sung Kyun Kwan University on 02/17/14
Figure 8. Effect of chitosan (a) and essential oil (b) concentrations on the fabric crease recovery of treated cotton fabric at essential oil (30 g/L) and
chitosan (6.67 g/L), respectively, in the presence of Knittex RCT (40 g/L) and CTAB (330 mg/L). E ¼ Eucalyptus oil and S ¼ Sandalwood oil.
concentration up to a limit and then decreases. An increase in
antibacterial activity is observed with the increase in essential oil
concentration. The concentration of chitosan has direct relation
with stiffness and wrinkle recovery characteristics of fabric. The
presence of essential oil decreases the stiffness but has no effect
on wrinkle recovery.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge NIBGE, Faisalabad, for donating bacterial
strains and help in completing a part of research in its laboratories.
For personal use only.
Declaration of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interests. The authors alone are
responsible for the content and writing of this article. The authors
acknowledge the financial support of R&D Division of NTU, Faisalabad.
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