Characterization and antibacterial properties of nanoboron powders and nanoboron powder coated textiles

•Nanoboron particles were characterized in textile coating solutions for stability.•Nanoboron coating changes surface nature and antimicrobial response on textiles.•Boron nanoparticles can limit the bacterial growth of both Gram (−) and (+) species.•Bacteria are more prone to stable nanoboron, which can pass through cell walls.•Strong attachment of nanoboron on textile surface limits antibacterial efficacy.

The antibacterial properties of boron-containing compounds are well known although there are limited studies available on the pure boron nanoparticles. In this paper, nanoboron particles are characterized in terms of their particle size, shape, stability and surface charge before and after their application onto textile surfaces to study their impact on bacterial activity. It was observed that the boron nanoparticles are effective in limiting the bacterial growth of both Gram-negative and positive species without requiring any stimulation to initiate the antibacterial action. In addition to the antibacterial functionality evaluation of the free boron nanoparticles, nanoboron coated textiles were also characterized and determined to change the wettability and surface charge of the textiles with a variable antimicrobial response to the different species. Consequently, we propose pure nanoboron as a new anti-bacterial agent that can function without external stimulation.

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