Editorial: Nanotechnology and smart textiles: Sustainable developments of applications

The huge development in nanotechnology has greatly introduced prospective opportunities to construct improved materials with sophisticated properties to be incorporated into various fields. Such applications are due to the unique properties of nanomaterials originating from the nanoscale structure which are completely different from its bulk materials. One of the current challenges is the possible spread of viral and bacterial infections in the healthcare units, small clinics, doctor’s offices, and hospitals that threaten the safety of the healthcare team, visitors, and patients. Textiles and clothes are one of the reasons for spreading infections between patients and others as they are in direct contact with the skin, therefore can be named “second skin”. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the overall properties of textile used for medicinal applications. Nanotechnology can contribute to producing smart textiles with multi-functional properties such as UV protection, flame-retardant, oil, and water repellent, antimicrobial, wrinkle resistance, anti-odor, and antistatic properties. Various chemically and physically-generated metal and metal oxide nanoparticles are applied for smart textiles. However, nanomaterials produced by green approaches are preferred to eliminate or minimize the harmful effects of traditional methods. This issue contains seven articles, two review articles, and five original research papers, covering the current research topic. The first research article (Sadeghi-Kiakhani et al.) focused on the enhancement of the antibacterial and antioxidant properties of cotton fabrics using silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs). Whereas, the following three original research articles (Fouda et al.; Giaconica et al.; Lotfy et al.) focused on the fabrication of nanofiber, magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO-NPs), and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by green approaches. The last research article (Guo et al.) was concerned with the formation of biochar to remove radioactive strontium from artificial seawater. The two OPEN ACCESS