Self-cleaning and superhydrophilic wool by TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposite

By Esfandiar Pakdel, W. Daoud, Xungai Wang. 2013

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Abstract Wool fabrics were functionalised using TiO 2 and TiO 2 /SiO 2 nanocomposites through a low-temperature sol–gel method. Titanium terta isopropoxide (TTIP) and tetra ethylorthosilicate (TEOS) were employed as precursors of TiO 2 and SiO 2 , respectively. Nanocomposite sols were devised based on three molar ratio percentages of TiO 2 /SiO 2 70:30, 50:50, and 30:70 to investigate the role of each component. The self-cleaning and hydrophilicity of wool fabrics were analysed based on the removal of coffee stain under UV and water droplet contact angle measurements, respectively. It was observed that applying TiO 2 /SiO 2 50:50 and 30:70 sols to wool rendered the fabric superhydrophilic. Fabrics functionalised with TiO 2 /SiO 2 30:70 showed the highest efficiency in stain removal, followed by samples functionalised with TiO 2 /SiO 2 50:50.

Subfields: Building and Construction, Inorganic Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8cbd8f3509e3006b759f968e16d7716a25cc8325