A multifunctional cotton fabric using TiO2 and PCMs: introducing thermal comfort and self-cleaning properties

摘要

The development of materials with multiple functionalities is a market imperative that places new challenges on textile processing. Whatever the application, the goal is always to achieve the best performance with the simplest and most economically attractive process, without forgetting the sustainability issues. The purpose of this study is to establish the conditions to obtain by a simple method a cotton material with comfort, self-cleaning properties and antimicrobial activity. For that, microcapsules of phase change materials (PCMs) and TiO2 nanoparticles (NP) were applied conjugated and resulting fabrics were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), contact angle and scanning electron microscopy with X-ray microanalysis (SEM/EDS). The self-cleaning properties of treated fabrics were also analyzed based on the photocatalytic ability of coated fabrics capability to decomposition of methyl orange (MO) under solar simulator irradiation [1] [1]and assessment of degradation of coffee, red wine and curry stains [2]. The comfort properties were assessed according DSC and Alambeta analysis. Moreover, incorporating TiO2 NP in the finishing formulation also was assessment the bacterial inhibition on the treated fabrics.