Functional Antibacterial Nanometer Zinc Ion Yarns: Manufacturing Technique and Antimicrobial Efficacy against Escherichia coli
, Mei-Feng Lai 6, Mong-Chuan Lee 7,* and Jia-Horng Lin 1,4,5,6,8,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript "Functional Antibacterial Nanometer Zinc Ion Yarns: Manufacturing Technique and Antimicrobial Efficacy against Escherichia Coli" is interesting and the research is innovative.
Detailed comments:
line 4 - coli should be lowercase
line 144 - please provide literature reference to this test
line 145 - E. coli should be in italics
line 146-147 - what microbiological medium was used?
Figure 3, 4, 5, 8 - no statistical analysis
The discussion of the results should be expanded.
Author Response
Comment 1. coli should be lowercase .
Response: Specially Thanks for your valuable comments. We have revised the “Coli” as the “coli” in title (line 4).
Comment 2. line 144 - please provide literature reference to this test.
Response: Specially Thanks for your valuable comments. Section 2.3.7 has been now supported with cited literatures to interpret the experiment method.
Comment 3. line 145 - E. coli should be in italics.
Response: Specially Thanks for your valuable comments.We have revised the “E. coli” as the “.E. coli ” section 2.3.7.
Comment 4. Line 146-147 - what microbiological medium was used?.
Response: Specially Thanks for your valuable comments. We have added the microbiological medium in section 2.3.7. microbiological medium name Lysogeny broth, LB.
Comment 5. Figure 3, 4, 5, 8 - no statistical analysis.
Response: Specially Thanks for your valuable comments. We have added statistical analysis label for Figure 4, 5, 9. Notely, we also added washing tests in Figure 5. As seen in Fig.6 there was no large differennce for the antimicrobial efficacy on the fabric before and after washing.Thus, we do not mark statistical analysis label in Figure 5.
Figure 4. Water vapor transmission rate of functional antibacterial knitted fabrics as related to twist coefficient. Note: Data shown as mean standard deviation (SD) (n = 3).** p < 0.01.
Figure 5. Air permeability of functional antibacterial knitted fabrics as related to twist coefficient. Note: Data shown as mean standard deviation (SD) (n =12).** p < 0.01.
Figure 6. Antimicrobial efficacy of functional knitted fabrics before and after washing as related to twist coefficient.
Figure 9. Antibacterial rate of functional antibacterial knitted fabrics as related to twist coefficient. Note: Data shown as mean standard deviation (SD) (n = 3).** p < 0.01.
Comment 5. The discussion of the results should be expanded.
Response: Specially Thanks for your valuable comments. Disscusion part has been expanded for adding supported literatures and experment.
In Section 3.4, We added the statistical analysis in Figure 3,4,5,8.
In Section 3.2，We supplemented references and explanations in order to explain the WVT rate results.
Accoding to previous literutures,, we could conclude that the permeability of both air and moisture is largely dependent on the porosity of fabrics. In conclusion, all types of the proposed knitted fabrics attain the WVTR required by the use standard for the human skin, and they are free from condensation of water vapor in the interior.
References
28 Sheng, J.; Zhang, M.; Xu, Y.; Yu, J.; Ding, B. Tailoring water-resistant and breathable performance of polyacrylonitrile nanofibrous membranes modified by polydimethylsiloxane. ACS applied materials & interfaces 2016, 8, 27218-27226.
- Yu, Z.-C.; Zhang, J.-F.; Lou, C.W.; He, H.-L.; Chen, A.-P.; Lin, J.-H. Wicking behavior and dynamic elastic recovery properties of multifunction elastic warp-knitted fabrics. Textile Research Journal 2015, 85, 1486-1496.
In Section 3.4, we added washing tests to comparative analysis of the amples before and after washing.
The OD value after washing of 2Zn-0C-K, 2Zn-5C-K , 3Zn-0C-K is 1.68, 0.58, and 1.58 respctively(Figure 5). It is worthing that, the OD value of the 2Zn-5C-K sample before washing is lower than that of the fabric after washing. However, for the 3Zn-0C-K sample, the OD value has a slightly decrease after 5 cycle washing. In fact, there was no large differennce for the antimicrobial efficacy on the above samples before and after 5 cycle washing in statistical analysis method. samples before and after washing showed a outstanding antimicrobial efficacy.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
With textile industry being among the most poluting ones, I have a couple of questions for the authors.
- Does this kind of textile have additional benefits of being sustainable recycable and non poluting?
- Could you estimate to what extent would E. Coli. number be reduced in regular washing if this material was used instead of common materials.
- References should be revised and replaced with those of newer date.
Author Response
To Reviewer 2
Comment 1. Does this kind of textile have additional benefits of being sustainable recycable and non poluting?.
Response: Specially Thanks for your valuable comments. We have rewrited this part in introducture.
The employment of twisting or wrapping may render functional yarns with a structural change, which may restrict the functions from effectuating. Some researchers studied about the hygroscopicity of functional yarns as related to the conduction of twisting. They found that excessive twisting damaged the yarn structure and reduced the capillary effect. Therefore, in this study, two or three plies of zinc ion yarns are made into twisted yarns via a rotor spin device, and in the meanwhile, the rotating speed difference (between the winding and take-up rates) is changed during the twisting process. Next, a fully computerized, high efficiency, single cylinder hosiery machine is used to fabricate functional antibacterial knitted fabrics, after which the mechanical properties, water vapor transmission rate, air permeability, antibacterial OD value, colony count, and antimicrobial efficacy of the knitted are examined, thereby evaluating the optimal manufacturing parameters. These results are of great significance for the design of low cost, eco-friendly, sustainable, and mass production of the products
Comment 2.Could you estimate to what extent would E. Coli. number be reduced in regular washing if this material was used instead of common materials.
Response: Specially Thanks for your valuable comments. In Section 3.4, we added washing tests to comparative analysis of the samples before and after washing as seen in figure 6.
Figure 6. Antimicrobial efficacy of functional knitted fabrics before and after washing as related to twist coefficient.
The OD value after washing of 2Zn-0C-K, 2Zn-5C-K , 3Zn-0C-K is 1.68, 0.58, and 1.58 respctively(Figure 6). It is worthing noting that, the OD value of the 2Zn-5C-K sample before washing is lower than that of the fabric after washing. However, for the 3Zn-0C-K sample, the OD value has a slightly decrease after 5 cycle washing. In fact, there was no large differennce for the antimicrobial efficacy on the above samples before and after 5 cycle washing in statistical analysis method. samples before and after washing showed a outstanding antimicrobial efficacy.
Comment 3. References should be revised and replaced with those of newer date.
Response: Thanks for the suggestion given by reviewer. We have upgraded the literature review in introduction part and the illustration as below:
- Gandotra, R.; Chen, Y.-R.; Murugesan, T.; Chang, T.-W.; Chang, H.-Y.; Lin, H.-N. Highly efficient and morphology dependent antibacterial activities of photocatalytic cuxo/zno nanocomposites. Journal of Alloys and Compounds 2021, 873, 159769.
- Arunachalam, A.; Dhanapandian, S.; Manoharan, C.; Sivakumar, G. Physical properties of zn doped tio2 thin films with spray pyrolysis technique and its effects in antibacterial activity. Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy 2015, 138, 105-112.
- Mao, H.; Zhang, B.; Nie, Y.; Tang, X.; Yang, S.; Zhou, S. Enhanced antibacterial activity of v-doped zno@ sio2 composites. Applied Surface Science 2021, 546, 149127.
- Kamalha, E.; Zeng, Y.; Mwasiagi, J.I.; Kyatuheire, S. The comfort dimension; a review of perception in clothing. Journal of sensory studies 2013, 28, 423-444.
- Türkoğlu, G.C.; Sarıışık, A.M.; Karavana, S.Y. Development of textile-based sodium alginate and chitosan hydrogel dressings. International Journal of Polymeric Materials and Polymeric Biomaterials 2020, 1-10.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript “Functional Antibacterial Nanometer Zinc Ion Yarns: Manufacturing Technique and Antimicrobial Efficacy against Escherichia Coli” addresses an interesting topic and clearly describes the results.
Moreover, the paper also uses a good English. Therefore, it may be recommended for publication after minor revision:
- Authors should improve the quality of the figures 6 and 7.
- Authors should insert a schematic diagram showing the experimental setup.
- In the introduction part it is recommended to add some more discussion. The following publication is recommended to fulfill this section: 1 - Structure, drug absorption, bioactive and antibacterial properties of sol-gel SiO2/ZrO2 materials. Ceramics International, 2020, 46.18: 29459-29465. 2 - Antibacterial Properties of Sol–Gel Biomaterials with Different Percentages of PEG or PCL. In: Macromolecular Symposia. 2020. p. 1900056.
Author Response
To Reviewer3
Comment 1. Authors should improve the quality of the figures 6 and 7.
Response: Thanks for the suggestion given by reviewer. In order to make it clear, Fig. 7 and 8 has been improved.
Comment 2. Authors should insert a schematic diagram showing the experimental setup.
Response: Thanks for the suggestion given by reviewer. We have inserted a schematic diagram in section(Figure1).
Comment 3.In the introduction part it is recommended to add some more discussion. The following publication is recommended to fulfill this section: 1 - Structure, drug absorption, bioactive and antibacterial properties of sol-gel SiO2/ZrO2 materials. Ceramics International, 2020, 46.18: 29459-29465. 2 - Antibacterial Properties of Sol–Gel Biomaterials with Different Percentages of PEG or PCL. In: Macromolecular Symposia. 2020. p. 1900056.
Response: We thank the reviewer for the valuable comment. We have added these references and focused on the antibacterial properties research in the revised manuscript. We have commented these references in the revised manuscript (Please see page 3 line 19; page 5 lines 11-17). The modifications are highlighted with red-colored words in the paper.
Common antibacterial agents in the market involve inorganic, organic, and natural types. In the early stage, the majority of antibacterial agents are organic because they have the optimal antibacterial performance. Nonetheless, the effect is not long lasting and the stability is low otherwise, due to which organic antibacterial agents are gradually replaced by inorganic types.Inorganic antibacterial agents are commonly used in disinfection, featuring long-lasting efficacy, high temperature resistance, and beneficial to the environment and the human health, and have been used in plastic, ceramics, and stainless steels in recent years. A recent study showed that most antimicrobial substrates used in the manufacturing process are mercury，silver, ZrO2, zinc oxide, and chlorogenic acid (CGA). Among these antimicrobial agents, mercury is poisonous and thus banned, but silver antibacterial materials have higher production cost. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) could applied as a natural product to improve the antibacterial ability, but the using condition was highly restricted, and the transformation from ZrO2 crystalline forms is a serious problem in the biomedical field. As a result, zinc oxide exhibits the most potential due to its intrinsic safety, stability with eco-friendly, ultraviolet resistant, and antimicrobial attributes. Hence, zinc oxides have commonplace uses in sunblock, waste water, tectorial membranes of artificial teeth, and the textile field, becoming a critical material in developing green textiles.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
