Eco-friendly dyeing of silk fabric by using Artemisia argyi as natural dye and Phyllanthus emblica as natural mordant.

Natural dyes commonly exhibit low dye uptake and inferior color fastness in textile applications, making the utilization of mordants necessary for enhancing dyeing performance. However, ecological toxicity and low biocompatibility are the drawbacks of traditional metal mordants. This study proposed an eco-friendly alternative by employing Phyllanthus emblica (PE) as natural mordant, and systematically explored its enhancement mechanism and mordanting effects on silk dyed with Artemisia argyi dye. The results demonstrated that the addition of PE extract under the dyeing conditions (pH 4, 90 °C, 30 min) significantly enhanced the color depth of silk fabric, as indicated by an increase in the K/S value from 2.82 to 5.05. The color fastness was also improved, with both washing and rubbing fastness increasing by approximately 0.5 grades. Furthermore, the dyed fabric exhibited excellent antibacterial activity, achieving a 93.03% bacteriostatic rate against Staphylococcus aureus. This study provides new insights for developing eco-functional textiles through sustainable dyeing processs.