• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.158-166
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• 2020

Self-cleaning fabric is a fabric having a function of decotamination via photodecomposition of photocatalyst or wash-off of contaminants on the superhydrophobic surface. TiO₂ is the main photocatalyst for this purpose, but it only functions under UV light which is only a little portion of sunlight, compared to visible light. In this regard, this study aims to investigate Fe-doped TiO₂ for improved photodecomposition from visible light sensitization to apply self-cleaning finishing of PET fabrics. Moreover, the Fe-doped TiO₂ treated PET fabric was further treated with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane to provide superhydrophobicity on the PET fabrics. As a result of this dual treatment, the prepared fabric exhibited excellent photodecomposition of methylene blue with 96.96% in 12h under sunlight and superhydrophobicity with water contact angle of 166.5° and roll-off angle of 7°. This suggested that the excellent self-cleaning functions can be privided to PET fabric via Fe-doped TiO₂ and hexadecyltrimethoxysilane treatment.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.68-73
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• 2019

We prepared hydrophobic silica particles by a sol-gel process from tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS), followed by coupling the reaction with octyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS) or hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS) under various reaction conditions. We confirmed the extent of silica surface modification with organic compounds by SEM-EDS, thermogravimetry and elemental analysis. The silica particles obtained after the hydrolysis reaction of TEOS in ethanol at $50^{\circ}C$ for 24 h and the coupling reaction with OTMS for 2 h at the same temperature displayed the optimum performance in terms of the dispersity in an organic solvent and the surface roughness of films composited with epoxy resins. The oxygen permeability of the composite film with modified-silica was 12% lower than that of using the film without modified-silica.

• Textile Coloration and Finishing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.288-293
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• 2018

This study reported the dual functional self-cleaning PET fabrics prepared from $TiO_2$ and hexadecyltrimethoxysilane treatment, which have photodegradation and superhydrophobicity on the fabric surface. Phodegradation and superhydrophobicity of the resulting fabric were compared with $TiO_2$ or silane treated fabrics. The dual functional self-cleaning PET fabric showed less photodegradation than the $TiO_2$ treated fabric. However, the dual functional self-cleaning fabrics showed superior superhydrophobicity to silane treated fabric with increased water contact angle and significantly decreased roll-off angle. This suggested that the dual functional PET fabric has a great potential to be the commercialized self-cleaning fabric because it is repellent to soil or dust and even if soil or dust is adsorbed on the fabric surface, it can be removed by water rolling off on the surface or photodegradation by the photocatalyst.