Preparation Of TiO₂ Nanoparticle And Its Application On Fabrics

With the development of technology and people's living standards, the clothing fiber materials required not only durable, comfortable and beautiful, but a number of other functional requirements. Inspired by plants and animals in nature with self-cleaning and superhydrophobic phenomenon, researchers have aimed to fabricate self-cleaning fabrics by incorporating nano-materials. Furthmore, Sun radiation, especially its UV segment, is a kind of the most harmful external factors that damage human health. Thus imparting UV-protection to clothing materials would become an increasely important requirement.People have paid attention to TiO2 for its excellent UV shielding and photocatalytic function. In this paper, titania nanoparticals were prepared by different methods with tetrabutyl titanate (TBOT) as raw materials. The functional fabrics were obtained by combining the coating of titanium dioxide (TiO2) with the subsequent dodecafluoroheptyl-propyl-trimethoxysilane (DFTMS) modification. The functional fabrics which had excellent superhydrophobicity, UV-shielding, and photocatalytic properties were prepared. Details are as follows:1. TiO2 sol was obtained by sol-gel method with TBOT, anhydrous ethanol, hydrochloric acid and water as raw materials. The effects of hydrochloric acid concentration, the volume of water and various ratio of TBOT on stability of TiO2 sol were investigated. TiO2 sol was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact angle measurement were employed to characterize treated fabrics. The results showed that the roughness of treated cotton and polyester fabrics surface is increased. Based the roughness of samples surface, both cotton fabrics and polyester fabics samples showed superhydrophobic property modified by DFTMS and the contact angle is above150°.2. Anatase titania nanoparticals were prepared by the sol-hydrothermal method with TBOT, anhydrous ethanol, nitric acid and water as raw materials. The effects of various ratio of TBOT, water and nitric acid on morphology of TiO2 nanoparticles on the surface of polymer fabrics were investigated. TiO2 nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-VIS spectrophotometry and contact angle measurement were employed to characterize treated fabrics. The results showed that the roughness of polymer fabrics surface was increased by TiO2 sol-hydrothermal process. In addition, the surface of treated fabrics was covered with TiO2 evenly and dispersively. With the subsequent DFTMS modification, the polymer fabrics showed superhydrophobic property, washing cycles, and UV-shielding properties.3. Anatase TiO2 sol was prepared with TBOT, water and acetic acid as raw materials in low temperature. The cotton fabrics were immersed in the TiO2 sol. There are a large number of-OH groups on cotton fabrics which were used as the source of cellulose fibers. TBOT is hydrolyzed in aqueous solution to form TiO2 precursor, and the -Ti-OH groups were initially assembled on the fiber surfaces via hydrogen bonds with cellulose-OH groups, and then the TiO2 nanoparticles were combined to the fiber surface.TiO2 sol was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-VIS spectrophotometry and contact angle measurement were employed to characterize treated fabrics. The results showed that the cotton fabrics treated by anatase TiO2 sol and modified with DFTMS in low temperature had excellent UV-shielding, superhydrophobic and self-cleaning properties.