Adenosine Triphosphate/Chitin Whisker/Phenylboronic Acid-Modified Wool Fabrics with Enhanced Dyeability

Promoting the uptake of dyes is an important part of the sustainable processing of wool products. This study presents an effective modification approach to enhance the dyeability of wool fabric with adenosine triphosphate as an activator, 3-carboxyphenyl boronic acid as a ligand-binding agent, and chitin whisker as a couple agent. The structure and surface morphology of the as-prepared wool fabric was characterized in detail. Natural luteolin and acid red 1 were used to dye the modified wool fabric, and the effect of different dyeing parameters on dyeing properties was discussed. The results indicated that the modified wool gained better surface color depth (K/S) and uptake without additional agents than the untreated wool fabric. When the modified wool fabric was dyed at 45 °C with luteolin and at 60 °C with acid red 1, the dyeing processes of the two dyes on the modified wool fabrics followed the Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Furthermore, the dyed modified wool fabrics possessed improved color fastness. Overall, this work offers a facile, effective, and sustainable way to improve the low-temperature dyeability of wool products.