Superhydrophobic and Ultraviolet-Blocking Cotton Fabrics Based on TiO₂/SiO₂ Composite Nanoparticles

Superhydrophobic and ultraviolet (UV)-blocking cotton fabrics were prepared by the incorporation of TiO2/SiO2 composite nanoparticles followed by hydrophobization with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDTMS). The TiO2/SiO2 composite nanoparticles were synthesized via sol-gel reaction with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as the precursor in the presence of TiO2. As for the resulting products, characterization by Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were performed respectively. The hydrophobicity measurement and ultraviolet-blocking property measurement showed that the obtained cotton fabric had a water contact angle of 159.3°, a water shedding angle of 8° and a large ultraviolet protection factor (UPF = 115.42) with UVA transmittance of 3.35%. The introduction of TiO2/SiO2 composite nanostructures onto fibers made the textiles rougher, which were highly beneficial to the formation of superhydrophobic surfaces. The high UV absorbance property of TiO2 imparted excellent UV-shielding property to the treated textiles, and effective blocking of the photoactivity of TiO2 by SiO2 resulted in the UV-durability of the superhydrophobicity on the textiles.