SELF-CLEANING TiO2-SiO2 CLUSTERS ON COTTON TEXTILE PREPARED BY DIP-SPIN COATING PROCESS

Titanium-silica (TiO2-SiO2), a type of semiconductor metal oxide cluster compound, has been widely used as oxidative catalysts and dye agents. In this research, TiO2-SiO2 on cotton textile has been utilized as self-cleaning agents by cross linking with acrylic acid compound. The clusters of TiO2-SiO2 was modified by a series of Ti:Si molar compositions, i.e. 1:1; 2:1 and 1:2. The successful modification of the cotton textile's fiber surface was confirmed with an increase in mass. The FTIR spectra displayed an intense peak at 1700 cm(-1), indicating the presence of carboxyl functional groups for both the coated cottons with and without TiO2-SiO2 coating. SEM-EDX characterization showed that the TiO2-SiO2 clusters was homogeneously distributed on the cotton. The self-cleaning performance of TiO2-SiO2 coated cotton textile was evaluated in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye and examined with UV light (120 min). Results showed that TiO2-SiO2 coated cotton with Ti:Si molar ratio of 1:2, which was prepared by dip-spin coating in acrylic acid with 24 h of soaking time, achieved the best self-cleaning effect in the degradation of methylene blue.