Fabrication of self-cleaning textiles by TiO2-carbon nanotube treatment

The purpose of this study is to fabricate self-cleaning textiles with photocatalyst excited by sunlight irradiation. Self-cleaning textiles were realized by coating carbon nanotube (CNT)-TiO2-acrylate copolymer on cotton and nylon fabrics using the dip-pad-dry process. The effect of CNT addition to TiO2 was observed on the self-cleaning performance and tensile stress of the treated fabrics. The morphology, chemical structure and particle size of acrylate copolymer with CNT-TiO2 and treated fabrics were analyzed using transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and a dynamic particle-size analyzer. The self-cleaning efficiency of the treated samples was examined by decomposition rates of methylene blue in aqueous solution and that of a wine stain under sunlight irradiation. It was found that the decomposition rates both for methylene blue and the wine stain were improved by CNT addition to TiO2 treatment on fabrics. When tensile degradation by photocatalytic reaction was monitored for TiO2 and CNT-TiO2-treated fabrics, the tensile deterioration after 48 hours of irradiation appeared to be mitigated by CNT addition to TiO2 treatment.