Ecofriendly Crosslinking of Sericin Biopolymers with Citric Acid on Polyethylene Terephthalate Fabric
Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 771-781,
Feb. 2026
10.1007/s12221-025-01257-9
PDF
Abstract
The surface functionalization technologies include the incorporation of functional groups on textile substrates. These groups can serve as initiators in the grafting process or enhance the finishing and dyeing of textile materials. Our study focused on the crosslinking of sericin, a natural biopolymer, onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric to enhance its properties such as hydrophilicity through an environmentally friendly surface functionalization process. In fact, our previous research demonstrated that the hydrophilicity of PET fabric could be improved by grafting sericin using glutaraldehyde as a crosslinking agent; however, due to the toxic nature of glutaraldehyde, alternative eco-friendly approaches are needed. For this purpose, we proceeded to the grafting of a biopolymer on the surface of the pre-activated PET by an air atmospheric plasma. Citric acid (CA) was employed as an ecological crosslinking agent during the grafting process. A statistical study was conducted to determine the optimal parameters for PET surface functionalization. The parameters under investigation include surface state (Untreated and Plasma-treated), Time (min), and Temperature (°C) of crosslinking process. Therefore, we opted to implement a full factorial design with three factors and multiple levels. The evaluation of the substrates under consideration involved measuring wettability through water contact angle (WCA°) and capillarity (Cp%). The results show a decrease in the water contact angle to 46° and an increase in capillarity to 75% for the plasma-treated PET samples grafted with sericin using CA at 120 °C for 15 min, compared to 81° and 3% for the untreated samples. The homogeneity test was conducted using an aqueous solution containing methylene blue. Additionally, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses of the textile surface demonstrate the grafting of the biopolymer crosslinked by citric acid through the appearance of new peaks related to nitrogen atoms and carbon involved in a double bond with oxygen. The abundance of functional groups in the biopolymer, crosslinking agent, and especially the PET plasma pre-activated surface offers various bonding possibilities among the different components.
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Cite this article
[IEEE Style]
I. B. Khalifa and N. Ladhari, "Ecofriendly Crosslinking of Sericin Biopolymers with Citric Acid on Polyethylene Terephthalate Fabric," Fibers and Polymers, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 771-781, 2026. DOI: 10.1007/s12221-025-01257-9.
[ACM Style]
Imene Belhaj Khalifa and Neji Ladhari. 2026. Ecofriendly Crosslinking of Sericin Biopolymers with Citric Acid on Polyethylene Terephthalate Fabric. Fibers and Polymers, 27, 2, (2026), 771-781. DOI: 10.1007/s12221-025-01257-9.