TiO2 nanoparticle deposition on cotton fabric through pulsed electrical current in water/TiO2 solution

Abstract

The present paper investigates TiO2 nanoparticle (TiO2-NP) deposition on cotton fabric through a pulsed electrical current in a water/TiO2-NP solution. The experiments used short voltage pulses with an amplitude around 1200 V, an intermediate value between those used in electrophoretic deposition (tens of V) and plasma discharge in liquids (tens of thousands of V). A sequence of pulse trains with five pulses of 1.0 μs delivered electrical energy to the mixture. The electrodes were kept 28 mm apart. An asymmetry appeared in the current waveform when the medium contained TiO2-NPs. The pieces of cotton fabric were characterized using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The electrical discharge treatment increased the Ti concentration on the fabric surface by as much as 6% according to XPS analysis. XRD analysis confirmed the XPS results for treated samples, indicating the presence of anatase TiO2. In the FTIR analysis, a shoulder at 800 cm−1 was observed and can be associated with coordination interactions between Ti and the OH groups of glucose. The nanoparticle adhesion was verified by observing the cotton fabric surface through field emission gun scanning electron microscopy after multiple washes. Even after 20 washing cycles, there was a considerable amount of nanoparticles on the sample surface.