Facile fabrication of hybrid PA6-decorated TiO₂ fabrics with excellent photocatalytic, anti-bacterial, UV light-shielding, and super hydrophobic properties

Abstract

a Self-cleaning fabrics decorated with titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles (NPs) have garnered worldwide attention due to their outstanding ultraviolet (UV) light-shielding, anti-bacterial properties and other characteristics. Numerous techniques to construct super-antiwetting surfaces have been investigated for both fundamental research and practical application. A facile and eco-friendly way by a combination of UV irradiation and ultrasonic bath method has been developed to prepare a novel self-cleaning hybrid polyamine 6/nano TiO 2 (PA6/nano TiO 2 ) fabric with superhydrophobic and durable photocatalytic properties. To evaluate the fabric's reusability, hybrid PA6/nano TiO 2 fabrics were subjected to five consecutive cycles of the photocatalytic degradation of the methyl orange (MO) dye. The results indicated that TiO 2 NPs were firmly fixed on the fiber surface. The UV-blocking and anti-microbial properties of these hybrid fabrics were also tested. For PA6 immobilized by commercial nano TiO 2 -P25 (P25-PA6) and PA6 immobilized by prepared visible-light photocatalyst PVA D -TiO 2 (PVA D -PA6) fabrics, the UV protection factors (UPFs) of the samples were 56 and 1123, respectively. The anti-microbial efficacies of the two samples were both 99%. The water contact angles were 151.7 and 154.6 , respectively, indicating surface superhydrophobicity. These results showed that this novel fabric has great potential for indoor environmental purification and outdoor protection applications.

Recent advances in the ultraviolet protection finishing of textiles

“…When applying inorganic UV blockers to textile substrates, researchers have faced several problems associated with the agglomeration of NPs, low adsorption ability of textile fi bres for NPs and low durability of the coating. To resolve these problems, new routes of synthesis of NPs have been introduced to improve the dispersity of NPs, such as the in situ growth of NPs on textile fi bres in the presence of stabilising agents [31, [46][47][48]; and the use of hydrothermal, solvothermal, microwave and sputtering deposition methods [32,45,[49][50][51][52][53][54]. To enhance the adsorption ability of textile fi bres and consequently the washing durability of the coatings, plasma treatments have been used to increase the textile wettability and the surface roughness [54][55][56], polyester fi -bres have been pre-treated with sodium hydroxide to improve their wettability [57,58] and cellulose fi bres have been pre-modifi ed with chloroacetic acid to create new active carboxylic groups [31].…”

“…Another multifunctionality of high added value textiles is their simultaneous superhydophobicity and UV blocking properties, which are important for sportswear, high-altitude and military clothing, covering materials and water-oil fi lters. Although superhydrophobic UV protected textiles have already been created by the application of a TiO 2 NP dispersion prepared with the use of ultrasonifi cation [49,65], the preparation of coatings with a combination of fl uorinated acrylic copolymers, polyvinyl-, alkyland perfl uoroalkyl-functionalised silsesquioxanes as well as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with diff erent MO NPs still remains the main route for controlling the chemical structure and roughness of the fi bre surface [9, 34, 66-69, 71]. By using a combination of electrospinning and a two-step doctor-blading coating, polyacrylonitrile/ polyurethane nanofi bres with the incorporated TiO 2 NPs were produced and aft erwards coated with 2-hydroxy-4-n-octoxybenzophenone and fl uorinated acrylic copolymer [9].…”

Photocatalytically Stable Superhydrophobic and Translucent Coatings Generated from PDMS-Grafted-SiO2/TiO2@PDMS with Multiple Applications

“…Photocatalyst metal-oxides such as TiO 2 and ZnO have often been used to fabricate superhydrophobic surfaces because their photocatalytic activity can effectively decompose most organic substances. − However, in general, there is a conflict between hydrophobicity and photocatalytic properties since when photocatalysts degrade oil contaminants, most modifiers or organic coatings themselves that are used to achieve superhydrophobicity have also been decomposed by photocatalysts, thus resulting in surface hydrophilicity. Some examples have been reported about photocatalytically stable superhydrophobic surfaces.…”

A cost-effective method for robust and anti-corrosive superhydrophobic coatings

“…Over the past few decades, superhydrophobic surfaces with a water contact angle (WCA) over 150° and a sliding angle lower than 10° have attracted considerable attention due to their wide applications, such as oil/water separation [1][2][3][4][5], self-cleaning [6][7][8], corrosion resistance [9][10][11][12], antiicing [13][14][15], anti-fogging [16,17], anti-bacterial [18,19], drag reduction [20,21] and so on. The wettability of the solid surface is a special property, governed by surface free energy and geometrical structure.…”