Surface micro-dissolve method of imparting self-cleaning property to cotton fabrics in NaOH/urea aqueous solution

Highlights: • A novel micro-dissolved process was carried out to embedding commercial titanium dioxide nanoparticles into cotton fabric with NaOH/urea aqueous solution. • X-ray diffraction pattern of modified fabrics shown that the cellulose structure of modified fabrics had not changed. • Modified cotton fabrics demonstrated favourable photocatalytic self-cleaning performance while tensile strength and whiteness of treated fabrics also expressed an increasement slightly. - Abstract: A simple and economical micro-dissolved process of embedding titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles into surface zone of cotton fabrics was developed. TiO₂ was coated on cotton fabrics in 7% wt NaOH/12% wt urea aqueous solution at low temperature. Photocatalytic efficiency of cotton fabrics treated with TiO₂ nanoparticles was studied upon measuring the photocatalytic decoloration of Rhodamine B (RhB) under ultraviolet irradiation. Self-cleaning property of cotton fabric coated with TiO₂ was evaluated with color depth of samples (K/S value). The treated fabrics were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FITR), tensile strength, stiffness and whiteness. The results indicated, TiO₂ nanoparticles could be embedded on the surface layer of cotton fabrics throuth surface micro-dissolve method. Treated cotton fabrics possessed distinct photocatalytic efficiency and self-cleaning properties. Tensile strength and whiteness of modified cotton fabrics appeared moderately increasement.