Ultrasound and microwave technology for flake-TiO2 growth and immobilization on cotton fabrics in micro-dissolution process

Recent years have witnessed the explosive progress of functional nano materials in textile field, requires us to re-recognize and understand the potential hazards of nanoparticles . A harmless, cost-effective and facile approach of growing functional particles with special morphology and immobilizing onto cellulose fabric (CF) to prepare functional fabrics is highly desired. Here, commercial TiO 2 nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) grow under ultrasound-microwave and form a flake-like structure, which retain excellent photocatalytic degradation ability and prevented the potential harm to human body when nanoparticles fell off. The method was implemented based on 4-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) aqueous system which was approved as a favorable solvent for dissolving cellulose, and grew flake-TiO 2 on cotton fibers under the assistance of the ultrasound and microwave. The as-prepared TiO 2 -CF possessed satisfactory photocatalytic activity for Methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) dyes under ultraviolet light with the low dye residue rate of about 5% and 1%, respectively. After 50 times rigorous washing procedures, the titania loading next to 18% was confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis , which proved that TiO 2 -CF had good wash fastness.