Abstract
• Visible-light induced self-cleaning functionality was introduced to wool fabrics. • Ag, Au, and Pt noble metals were used as dopants in synthesising TiO 2 colloids. • The effect of light source on the self-cleaning property of fabrics was clarified. • The antibacterial activity of coated fabrics against E.coli bacterium was tested. • Ag followed by Pt and Au led to the highest antibacterial activity on fabrics. Wool fabrics with antibacterial and photocatalytic self-cleaning functionalities were developed by applying TiO 2 /Pt, TiO 2 /Au and TiO 2 /Ag colloids to the fabrics surface. This study elucidates how light source type and wavelength range can affect the photo-induced self-cleaning property of the treated fabrics. The self-cleaning activity of fabrics was monitored based on the degradation of coffee stains under UVA (λ max : 365 nm), visible light (λ max : 435 nm), full spectrum simulated solar irradiation (λ: 250–800 nm) and filtered simulated solar irradiation (λ: 320–800 nm). In addition, the effect of nanocoatings on the antibacterial activity against Escherichia Coli (E. Coli) bacterium was examined. The incorporated metals synergistically affected the self-cleaning performance, and their efficiency was dependent on the dopants type, concentration, and light sources. It was observed that the filtered simulated sunlight was the most effective light source for inducing self-cleaning without causing any unwanted photo-yellowing damage in wool. Moreover, the coated fabrics containing silver and platinum led to a bactericidal effect, while gold additive did not re-produce this effectiveness.
Published Version
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