Dynamic vapour sorption and thermoporometry of polyamide fabrics coated with chitosan hydrogels

• Fabrics coated with chitosan hydrogels improve their water absorption capacity.
• The pore distribution of fabrics was measured by thermoporometry.
• The hydrogel coating provides new pores which enhance the water retention.

In this work, chitosan hydrogels crosslinked with genipin have been incorporated onto the surface of polyamide fabrics and the porous structure of these modified textiles have been studied. The successful hydrogel incorporation was confirmed by weight gain and evidenced by cryo-SEM. By dynamic vapour sorption (TG-DVS) the water absorption ability of the treated fabrics was studied. The results show that fabrics coated with hydrogel have higher moisture content than uncoated fabric, and they are able to absorb more water at high relative humidity. Also, the pore distribution of fabrics was measured by thermoporometry, which allows the study of pore structures of materials in presence of water. These results show that the hydrogel coating provides new pores smaller than 100 nm, which enhance the water retention.