Poly(amidoamine)-mediated self-assembly of hydroxyl-modified anatase TiO₂ nanocrystals on cotton fabric

Abstract

Here, water-soluble hydroxyl-terminated hyperbranched poly(amino ester) (HBPAE)-capped titanium dioxide nanocrystals (TiO2 NCs) were synthesized for coating a cotton fabric via an amino-terminated hyperbranched poly(amidoamine) (HBPAA)-mediated self-assembly strategy in order to produce a controllable and uniform TiO2 coating on the cotton surface. As-prepared TiO2 NCs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was demonstrated that hydroxyl-modified TiO2 NCs were egg-shaped and had a narrow size distribution. A TiO2 NC-coated cotton fabric was prepared by sequential impregnation with solutions of HBPAAs and TiO2 NCs. The attachment of HBPAAs to TiO2 NCs was evaluated by FTIR. It was shown that HBPAAs were chemically bound to the cotton surface. FESEM and XRD characterizations demonstrated that TiO2 NCs could self-assemble on a cotton fabric efficiently and were distributed uniformly on the cotton surface.