Self‐Cleaning Textiles Through Dyeing with Natural Dyes: An Eco‐friendly Approach

A photo catalytic self‐cleaning cotton fabric was prepared by dyeing cotton fabric with dye extracted from the turmeric plant. A simple one step batch process was used to dye the fabric. Methylene Blue (MB) dye has been used as a probe dye to test the self‐cleaning properties of the fabric dyed with turmeric. Optimization was done by using the Box–Behnken approach. Different parameters like the effect of pH, exposure time and dye concentration were analyzed. Under optimum conditions, a MB degradation efficiency of 61% was recorded with exposure time of 1.25 h, 3 g/l dye concentration and pH of 12. The dyed fabric stained using MB recorded a color change reduction of 10.18 when exposed to light, confirming the self‐cleaning property. The self‐cleaning properties of the dyed cotton fabric were characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy and calorimeter. The study showed that the potential of using natural dyes like turmeric to impart self‐cleaning properties to textiles, which can greatly contribute towards environmental protection if fully realized and applied in the textile industry. A fully eco‐friendly method of imparting catalytic self‐cleaning mechanism in a fabric has been developed by simply dyeing cotton using dye extract from the turmeric plant. There was no chemical was used to dye and to impart the self‐cleaning characteristics.