Fabrication of self-cleaning textiles by TiO 2 -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)-TiO 2 -acrylate copolymer on cotton and nylon fabrics using the dip-pad-dry process. The effect of CNT addition to TiO 2 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-TiO 2 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 TiO 2 treatment on fabrics. When tensile degradation by photocatalytic reaction was monitored for TiO 2 and CNT-TiO 2 -treated fabrics, the tensile deterioration after 48 hours of irradiation appeared to be mitigated by CNT addition to TiO 2 treatment.