Eco-friendly UV Blocking Finishes Extracted from Amaranthus viridis and Solanum nigrum

Abstract

This research work deals with a qualitative analysis of extracts from Amaranthus viridis and Solanum nigrum plants as eco-friendly ultraviolet (UV) blocking finishes. The presence of flavonoid and phenolic contents in the plant extracts and the influence of concentrations towards UV blocking was studied. The plant extracts were obtained through solvent (aqueous and methanolic) extraction and coated onto cotton fabrics with the pad-dry-cure method. UV-visible and CIELAB spectroscopy analysis were carried out for the quantitative measurement of UV blocking and sequential analysis. The results show that loading of selected extracts on the fabric samples results in a significant enhancement in UV blocking. The treated fabrics show exceptional UV blocking in both UV-A and UV-B region, where the highest anti-UV values were obtained when the fabrics were treated with methanolic extracts. Furthermore, a considerable influence on CIELAB coordinates was found inordinate for methanolic extracts treated fabric compared to aqueous extracts.

Keywords

• Amaranthus viridis
• Solanum nigrum
• medicinal plants
• UV blocking
• natural finishes