Research Article Influence of Incorporating Silver Nanoparticles in Protease Treatment on Fiber Friction, Antistatic, and Antibacterial Properties of Wool Fibers Hafeezullah Memon , 1,2 Hua Wang , 3 Sohail Yasin, 4 and Adeel Halepoto 5 1 Donghua University Center for Civil Aviation Composites, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China 2 Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 201620, China 3 College of Textiles, Donghua University, 2999 North Renmin Road, Shanghai 2011620, China 4 School of Textiles and Design, Heriot-Watt University, Galashiels TD1 3HF, UK 5 College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, and Biotechnology, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China Correspondence should be addressed to Hua Wang; huawang@dhu.edu.cn Received 7 August 2018; Revised 9 October 2018; Accepted 21 October 2018; Published 2 December 2018 Academic Editor: Jean-Marie Nedelec Copyright © 2018 Hafeezullah Memon et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. is study was conducted by analyzing the effect of surface treatment on wool using varying percentages of protease (3%, 6%, and 9%) with incorporating silver nanoparticles and by varying pH (i.e., pH � 4 and pH � 7). e comparison of fiber surface morphology and the FTIR analysis was done to characterize the nanocoating. e results showed that the antistatic and an- tibacterial effect on the samples treated at 3% protease and 6% protease were better than the samples treated at 9% protease. Correspondingly, the samples treated at pH 4 had better antistatic and antibacterial properties than those treated at pH 7. Sulfur compounds play a key role in interaction and absorption of silver nanoparticles. 1. Introduction Despite many available synthetic fibers today, the natural fibers are still highly demanded and preferred to be used. Among other natural fibers, wool fiber is also being chosen by most of the consumers as one of the significant natural fibers. e livestock industry is not only established for meat and milk, but they also provide wool or hair fibers and thus affect positively the income of any country or state [1]. Regardless of high market demand, wool fiber is un- successful for being used as topmost fiber due to its dearth [2]. Pristine wool fiber comes with more or less major de- ficiencies, i.e., natural hydrophobicity of the outer surface due to the fatty acid layer, surface roughness due to its structure of cuticle, and a good media for the growth and propagation of bacteria under appropriate temperature and humidity. For the former two, several techniques have been applied to decompose the fatty surface layer [3–5] and/or coating or fabricating the hydrophilic materials over the layer of fatty acids on the surface wool fibers [6–8]. However, such treatments often cause some losses in mechanical properties and/or compromise on its natural feel and comfort. e natural hydrophobicity of wool fiber causes the static charge build-up on the fiber surface. Antistatic treatments of wool textiles lower the electrical resistivity and facilitate the charge dissipation on the fiber and thus diminish the high potential electrical discharges. Moreover, by lowering the surface resistivity of wool textile materials, better soil release, electroconducting, and electromagnetic and thermal shielding properties can be achieved, as well. Ki et al. [9] maintained that the antistatic efficacy of the Hindawi Journal of Chemistry Volume 2018, Article ID 4845687, 8 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4845687