Lantana camara flowers as a natural dye source for cotton fabrics

Environmental concerns about synthetic dyes and their carcinogenic properties renewed interest in eco-friendly natural dyes. Natural dyes produce a wide range of tints and shades with the same dye material. In this study, natural colorants from Lantana camara flowers, a Verbenaceae plant, have been applied to bleached cotton fabrics following pre-mordanting, simultaneous mordanting, and post-mordanting with different chemical mordants (copper sulfate, ferrous sulfate, nickel sulfate, potassium aluminum sulfate, potassium dichromate, stannous chloride). Dyed samples were tested for wash-fastness, light-fastness, and rubbing-fastness, as per Standard IS methods. The colors of dyed pieces were evaluated with color matching software using CIELAB (Delta L*, Delta a*, Delta b*) coordinates and K/S values for dye absorption on cotton. Pre-mordanting produced good dye uptake. The extracted natural dye was analyzed using Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy, Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. This study demonstrated that the flowers of Lantana camara are an excellent source of eco-friendly natural dye, and the dye extract is free from heavy metals such as antimony, arsenic, cadmium, and lead. Cotton and natural fiber textiles can be commercially dyed with the dye extracted from the Lantana camara flowers using a variety of chemical mordants to achieve different color shades.