Formation of Coatings Based on Titanium Dioxide Nanosolson Polyester Fibre Materials

Natalia Prorokova,Igor Kholodkov,Tatiana Kumeeva

doi:10.3390/coatings10010082

Abstract

In this paper, we show that functionalization of fibrous materials through coating formation is hindered by the need to preserve the capillary-porous system of the fabric and its drapability. Additionally, such coatings must be resistant to abrasion and washing. We consider ways of solving these problems by analysing the formation of a stable coating based on photoactive titanium dioxide on a polyester fibre material as an example. The purpose of such coatings is to destroy coloured organic contaminants when the fabric is exposed to sunlight. We show that a polyester fabric with a titanium dioxide coating can become highly photochemically active and capable of inhibiting the vital activity of gram-negative bacteria and remaining soft and breathable at the same time. We also determined that depositing a titanium dioxide coating does not reduce the polyester fabric tensile strength. Polyester fabrics with photoactive properties can be widely used as decorative and trimming materials—for housing decoration, production of curtains and other decorative interior design elements.

Highlights

The problem of modifying fibrous materials in order to endow them with fundamentally new properties is of relevance, as attempts are being made to create “smart” textiles and “smart” clothes, i.e., materials and clothes that respond to external effects
As work [19] showed, depositing a small amount of TiO2 nanoparticles onto a pre-activated polyester fabric leads to the formation of an ultrathin continuous coating on thesurface of every thread of the fabric
To increase the photoactive coating adhesion to a polyester fabric, we carried out its activation at the preliminary stage in order to form active oxygen-containing groups on the polyester fibres and increase the fibre surface roughness

Summary

Introduction

The problem of modifying fibrous materials in order to endow them with fundamentally new properties is of relevance, as attempts are being made to create “smart” textiles and “smart” clothes, i.e., materials and clothes that respond to external effects. Researchers have recently been paying increasing attention to the use of the sol-gel technology of nanosol synthesis in the processes of fibrous material modification and the formation of a modifying coating on the fibres. The implementation of this technology implies that a small amount of the modifying compound is used, and the fabric is treated at rather low temperatures usingtraditional equipment [1,2,3,4,5,6]. A very large surface area of such particles makes nanosols metastable [7] That is why they form coatings when the solvent is removed. The process of coating formation includes the stages of nanoparticle synthesis involving a sol-gel process [8,9], particle deposition, and drying [1,3]

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