Realizing Visible-Light-Induced Self-Cleaning Property of Cotton through Coating N-TiO2 Film and Loading AgI Particles

The visible-light-induced self-cleaning property of cotton has been realized by coating N-TiO2 film and loading AgI particles simultaneously. The physical properties were characterized by means of XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and DRS techniques. The visible light photocatalytic activities of the materials were evaluated using the degradation of methyl orange. In comparison with TiO2 cotton, the dramatic enhancement in the visible light photocatalytic performance of the AgI-N-TiO2 cotton could be attributed to the synergistic effect of AgI and N-TiO2, including generation of visible light photocatalytic activity and the effective electron-hole separations at the interfaces of the two semiconductors. The photocatalytic activity of the AgI-N-TiO2 cotton was fully maintained upon several numbers of photodegradation cycles. In addition, according to the XRD patterns of the AgI-N-TiO2 cotton before and after reaction, AgI was stable in the composites under visible light irradiation. Moreover, a possible mechanism for the excellent and stable photocatalytic activity of AgI-N-TiO2 cotton under visible light irradiation was also proposed.