Functionalization of cotton fabric with nanosized TiO2 coating for self-cleaning and antibacterial property enhancement

In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO2) was used as coating compound to add self-cleaning and antibacterial functionality properties to the cotton fabric. TiO2-consisting coating compounds were prepared at four different processing temperatures (20, 40, 60, and 80A degrees C) in order to examine the influence of process temperature on average particle size. Among the prepared solutions, the one prepared at 80A degrees C process temperature was selected for the dip coating application of the 100% cotton fabric, which formed a transparent nanosized TiO2 film on the fibrous structure of fabric. Dip coating trials were done at five coating temperatures of 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100A degrees C. TiO2-coated and uncoated fabric samples were then tested to evaluate their self-cleaning and antibacterial activities. A self-cleaning activity test was conducted using uncoated and TiO2-coated fabric samples which were stained with hot tea solution via dipping method. Stained fabric samples were illuminated under a solar simulator for the color changes to measure photocatalytic degradation of stain colors. Antibacterial performance of TiO2-coated and uncoated fabric samples was determined against pure cultures of Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213.