Luminescent textiles using biobased products : A bioinspired approach

Nature has designed a few biobased molecules that are responsible for bioluminescence and photoluminescence in some living species. In this thesis, the potential use of luminescence phenomena existing in nature toward the attainment of luminescent textiles was explored. The primary focus of the thesis was to create a biomimetic design method to obtain luminescent textiles using biobased products. In the first part of the thesis, a detailed literature study on luminescence phenomena seen in nature was reviewed and the results allowed to form the selection of luminous bacteria reaction system depending upon the availability, regeneration of the substrate, and cost. Eco technologies such as air atmospheric plasma and cold remote plasma treatment were used for textile activation and enzyme immobilization. Primarily, the catalytic activity and luminescence efficiency of the luminous bacteria system were evaluated and optimized in the aqueous phase, by intensity measurements using a luminometer. Furthermore, the optimized reaction system was incorporated onto textiles to evaluate the bioluminescence effect. The evaluation of the bioluminescent system on textiles showed that the relative light intensity (RLU) as high as 60,000 RLU equivalent to that of LED light could be achieved. The study revealed its first successful attempt to utilize a biomimetic strategy for immobilization of enzyme(s) involved in the luminous bacteria reaction system onto a plasma-activated microfibrous nonwoven textile to attain biomimetic/bio luminescent materials that can be used for various applications such as biosensors, biomedical, safety and aesthetic use. Furthermore, the inherent photoluminescence property of biobased molecules riboflavin (RF) and flavin mononucleotide (FMN) were explored with the aim to obtain multifunctional photoluminescent textiles. Cellulosic, polyester, silk, and wool-based photoluminescent textiles with UV protection, coloration properties were obtained using traditional methods such as diffusion, screen printing, coating, and use of resource-efficient digital printing techniques allowed to obtain antibacterial properties along with photoluminescence effect