Synthesis of TiO2 and ZnO nano particles using SOL GEL technique and their application on cotton fabric to study the multifunctional characteristics

Abstract

Metal oxides like Titanium di-oxide and Zinc oxide are useful in imparting multifunctional characteristics when coated to textile substrates. There are several techniques used to synthesise nano-particles from metal oxide such as vapor-phase process, solution precipitation and solid state process. The first part of this research work comprises of synthesise, characterization and applications of TiO2 nano-particles on to the sample followed by the functional testing of the treated fabric samples for four functional properties namely, Anti-bacterial activity, UV protection, soil release property and self cleaning activity. The second part of this research work comprises of synthesise, characterization and application of ZnO nano-particles on the fabric samples for studying the functional properties such as antibacterial activity, UV protection, soil release property and self cleaning activity. A detailed investigation has been made in this research work on the multifunctional finishing of 100% cotton woven fabric using titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-particles. In the first part of the research work, two sets of TiO2 nano-particles were synthesized with titanium iso-propoxide as precursor with water and Ethanol medium (T1 andT2 respectively) and Titanium Tetra Chloride as precursor (T3). In the second part of the research work, Zinc oxide nano-particles were synthesized by using three different precursors namely, Zinc acetate, Zinc chloride and Zinc nitrate, designated as Z1, Z2, and Z3 respectively. The t test statistical analysis has been made for the test results to assess the significance of the individual characteristics. The regression analysis has been made to assess the washing fastness test results of the samples. It is concluded that the size of the nano-particles is an important factor is influencing the efficacy of the finish and the durability of the same. It is also found that there is no significant difference in the efficacy of the finish rendered by TiO2 and ZnO nano-particles. newline newline