Colored cotton fabric with hydrophobicity prepared by monodispersed cationic colored polymer nanospheres

Colored polymer nanospheres have high light absorption, reflection, and color properties, which can be widely used as the colorants in inks, textiles, and paints. In this paper, the monodispersed cationic colored polymer nanospheres (RCCM, YCCM, and BCCM) with the three-primary colors were fabricated by emulsion polymerization using polymerizable dyes (AHAQ, AAQBC, and AHMAQ) and styrene (St) as the monomers. The polymerizable dyes were successfully synthesized, and their chemical structures were characterized by 1H-NMR, FT-IR, and elemental analysis. The diameters and zeta potential of RCCM, YCCM, and BCCM were 65 nm, 68 nm, 69 nm, and + 42.8 mV, + 45.3 mV, and + 50.6 mV, respectively. Importantly, the prepared nanospheres exhibited high dispersion stability due to their high zeta potential. Then the RCCM, YCCM, and BCCM were applied to CMC-treated cotton fabric printing without any extra additives. The printed fabrics exhibited a certain hydrophobicity with the contact angles (CA) of 125°, 128°, and 123°. The testing of hand feel indicated that the hand feel of printed fabrics changed slightly as compared with cotton fabrics. And the color fastness of all printed fabrics was good enough for practical applications.