Green and Durable Treatment for Multifunctional Cellulose-containing Woven Fabrics via TiO2-NP and HMTAP Processed in Semi-pilot Machine

Metal and metal oxides in nano-sized particles have recently shown great potentials to obtain multifunctional textiles. However, multifunctional textiles with durable characteristics are still challenging to achieve by using eco-friendly fixing agents. In this work, cotton, linen, viscose, polyester fabrics, and their blends with different weaving structures were treated by TiO2-NP emulsions containing an eco-friendly binding agent. Itaconic acid, a water-soluble monomer, was used as a green alternative to acrylic-based binding agent in order to provide durable finishing. The treatment parameters have been optimized on 100 % cotton fabrics. Hexamethyltriaminophosphine (HMTAP), organic compound contains phosphorus and nitrogen atoms, was employed as fire-retardant agent in the treatment emulsions by which at 2.5 %v/v superior performance on the vertical fire test was achieved. Nanoparticles deposition was confirmed by SEM-EDX test. Treated samples showed very high UPF values with all type of fabrics to reach 277, 144, 287 and 201 for cotton sample, cotton/PET, PET and PET/viscous, respectively. However, linen fabric with very loose weaving structure showed the lowest UPF values. Antimicrobial activities of the treated samples at as less as 1.5 % wt/v TiO2 showed over 90 % reduction of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, conducted under halogen light bulb, compared to the untreated.