The Effect of TiO2 Nanoparticles Morphology and Au Nanocoating on Cellulosic Fabric in the Performance of Self-cleaning

Golabzaei, Sabereh; Khajavi, Ramin; Torkan, Leila

The Effect of TiO2 Nanoparticles Morphology and Au Nanocoating on Cellulosic Fabric in the Performance of Self-cleaning

Document Type : Research/ Original/ Regular Article

Authors

¹ Department of Textile Engineering, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University

² Member of Faculty, Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch

³ Research Center for Modeling and Optimization In Science and Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

In this study, the effect of Au nanocoating and the morphology of titanium dioxide TiO2 nanoparticles
on the performance of photo-catalytic and self-cleaning properties of a cellulosic substrate was investigated.
The viscose rayon fabrics were coated with Au nanoparticles using sputtering technique.
Three different kinds of TiO2 morphologies (i.e., spherical, spindle and rod shaped) were applied on
the fabric samples by spraying method. The surface morphology of the samples was characterized by
scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the self-cleaning properties were determined by measuring
the color intensity and the color difference (ΔE). The presence of TiO2 nanoparticles renders the photocatalytic
ability to the coated fabrics. However, the thickness of coating layer showed no significant
improvement in the obtained self cleaning property. Among the different morphologies, the rod shaped
TiO2 nanoparticles showed somewhat better self-cleaning results which can be attributed to its higher
surface area to volume ratio.

Keywords