The importance of the surface functionalisation in textiles to create smart technological solutions

The ability of modifying the surface of a given substrate to confer novel “smart” properties only at the surface level is an extremely powerful approach as it allows to introduce specific physical, chemical, or biological characteristics able to favour an increment of the performances compared to the starting substrate. This is particularly true in the case of textiles and fibres, which are largely adopted not only in the textile field, but also in many innovative applications where the surface functionalisation plays a key role [1]. In this context, the first part of the talk will provide an overview over the use of textiles in surgical operations for the hernia care, with a focus on the possibility of using surface treatments to modify non-absorbable synthetic polymeric meshes to confer advanced features. In particular, the introduction of bioresorbable coatings able to exert an in situ antibacterial action is a very promising and widely investigated route to follow as one of the main issues related to the use of fully-absorbable fibres is their poor mechanical properties, which can be overcome by the presence of a bioinert non-absorbable skeletal materials, thus making the combination of both novel absorbable coatings and standard bioinert fibres a better compromise [2-3]. Another (often underestimated) concern related to hernioplasty is the shrinking of the prosthesis after implantation, with consequent collapse of the anchoring sutures through the hernia defect margin. Even here, the possibility of introducing a functional coating able to increase the adhesion ability of the prosthesis to the human tissue is a very promising technological solution alternative to the deposition of biocompatible glue on the meshes during the surgical intervention [4-5]. In the second part of the talk, a brief survey of representative case studies involving the surface modification of textiles for different applications will be discussed, including the modification of natural fibres with metallic nanoparticles to confer odourless features in technical textiles [6], and the production of mechanically-resistant conductive fibres for the generation of “smart” composites with health monitoring ability. [1] R. Nisticò, et al. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2017, 419, 860-868. [2] R. Nisticò, et al. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2012, 258, 7889-7896. [3] P. Avetta, R. Nisticò, et al. J. Mater. Chem. B 2014, 2, 5287-5294. [4] R. Nisticò, et al. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2015, 328, 287-295. [5] P. Rivolo, et al. Mater. Sci. Eng. C 2016, 65, 287-294. [6] R. Nisticò, et al. ChemPhysChem 2015, 16, 3902-3909.