Multifunctional linen cellulose fabric coating: Combined heat storage and thermoregulation, hydrophobicity, UV resistance and antibacterial properties

Functional thermoregulation fabrics have emerged as a significant area of research and development within the textile industry, garnering extensive attention in recent years. Herein, dodecyl alcohol/paraffin wax-styrene-acrylate emulsions (DD/PW-TiO₂/FSiWSA) were prepared using the core-shell emulsion polymerization method and used for the finishing of linen fabrics. To address the issues of low solid content, insufficient stability, and poor water resistance in water-based styrene-acrylic emulsions (WSA), nano-TiO₂ was first modified with 3-methacryloxy propyl trimethoxysilane (KH-570). Subsequently, KH-570 modified nano-TiO₂ and organic fluorosilicon were simultaneously introduced into the polymer skeleton. The structural characteristics of DD/PW-TiO₂/FSiWSA were studied. The results shows that the DD/PW-TiO₂/FSiWSA coating increases the water contact angle (WCA) of linen fabric from 0° to 131.95°, while also providing excellent stain resistance. The modified fabric has excellent anti-UV properties, and the UV protection factor is as high as 56.16. Moreover, the modified fabric exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against A. niger and S. aureus . Encouragingly, the modified fabric has excellent heat storage and temperature regulation capability, with a peak phase transition temperature of 23.6 °C, a latent heat of fusion of 25.36 J/g, and a 65.9 % increase in thermal conductivity. The coating is universal and can enhance the hydrophobicity of materials such as cotton fabrics, polyester cotton, paper, cardboard and wood, with a WCA range of 115.56° ~ 131.72°. Therefore, this multifunctional coating will lead cellulose materials towards diverse applications.