Durable superhydrophobic and photocatalytic cotton modified by PDMS with TiO2 supported bamboo charcoal nanocomposites

Abstract

A durable superhydrophobic photocatalytic cotton fabric was prepared by titanium composite bamboo charcoal (BC) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Through comparative experiments, the TiO2-BC composite particles proved to significantly improve the hydrophobic finishing effect of PDMS. The contact angle of cotton modified with TiO2-BC/PDMS reaches 155 °. The results show that the consumption of TiO2 particles achieves a reduction of 87.5 %, without affecting the hydrophobic effect. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were employed to determine the surface physical morphology and chemical properties of the cotton fabrics correspondingly. Based on the results showed in the experiment, it was confirmed that on the one hand, the increased fiber roughness plays an important role in providing a superhydrophobic surface of cotton fabric. On the other hand, the methyl (CH3) and siloxane (SiOSi) in PDMS provided for water repellency. Furthermore, the CC/CH component was found to increase by 39 %, while the CO bond was dramatically reduced by 88 %. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) suggests that the thermal stability of the treated fabric was improved, and the thermal mass residue increased from 12 % to 16 %. A degradation of 85.12 % of Rhodamine B (RhB) was obtained when the photocatalysis experiment was performed under the visible light, while the contact angle can still reach above 150 ° after the test. The durability experiment proves that the TiO2-BC/PDMS modified fabric maintained a contact angle of 140 ° even after 25 times of regular soaping. Given the above, the fluorine-free hydrophobic silicone materials with porous nanocomposites develop a cost-effect and eco-friendly approach for preparing durable superhydrophobic photocatalytic textile under the circumstance of reducing chemical consumption.