• Triclosan-Incorporated Natural Rubber Latex Foam: A New Approach to Antibacterial Performance

  • Abdulhakim Masa and Nabil Hayeemasae*,†

  • Rubber Engineering Program, Department of Interdisciplinary Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla 90110 Thailand
    *Department of Rubber Technology and Polymer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus, Pattani, 94000, Thailand

  • 트리클로산 첨가 천연고무 라텍스 폼의 항균 특성 개선 연구

  • Reproduction, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form of any part of this publication is permitted only by written permission from the Polymer Society of Korea.


Abstract

Natural rubber (NR) latex foam has been used in various products such as pillows, mattresses, and carpet underlays, to name a few. Its cellular structure may lead to the easy growth of micro-organisms. This may bring harmful bacteria to the users. Therefore, this work aimed to develop antibacterial NR latex foam and offered the basic formulation for preparing it. An antibacterial NR latex foam was prepared in the presence of Triclosan. The use of Triclosan affects antibacterial activities, where the clear zones of S. aureus and E. coli increased with the Triclosan content. A shorter contact time was achieved to kill the bacteria. The use of Triclosan at only 2 phr is sufficient to gain 100% killing efficiency in 8 h of contact time. This study offered resourceful information in fabricating an antibacterial NR latex foam incorporating Triclosan.


Keywords: natural rubber, antibacterial performance, triclosan, foam, cellular structure.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Natural Rubber Innovation Research Institute, Prince of Songkla University, for the Invention Development Fund through grant No. SAT6201085S.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

  • Polymer(Korea) 폴리머
  • Frequency : Bimonthly(odd)
    ISSN 2234-8077(Online)
    Abbr. Polym. Korea
  • 2024 Impact Factor : 0.6
  • Indexed in SCIE

This Article

  • 2026; 50(1): 76-83

    Published online Jan 25, 2026

  • 10.7317/pk.2026.50.1.76
  • Received on Jun 16, 2025
  • Revised on Sep 1, 2025
  • Accepted on Sep 4, 2025

Correspondence to

  • Nabil Hayeemasae

  • Department of Rubber Technology and Polymer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus, Pattani, 94000, Thailand

  • E-mail: nabil.h@psu.ac.th
  • ORCID:
    0000-0002-9924-582X