The innovation of antimicrobial and self-cleaning using Ag/TiO2 nanocomposite coated on cotton fabric for footwear application

Abstract

Abstract The Innovation of antimicrobial and self-cleaning material using Ag/TiO2 in a cotton fabric is undertaken to develop capabilities of footwear application. The nanocomposite of Ag/TiO2 was made by using Photo-Assisted Deposition (PAD) method. Ag/TiO2 treated cotton fabrics were impregnated by modified dip coating process with the addition of Tetraethyl Orthosilicate (TEOS) as precursors of SiO2. The addition of TEOS precursors is used to improve TiO2 multifunctional performance in hydrophilic and self-cleaning ability. The synthesized sample of Ag/TiO2 characterized by UV-Visible diffusion reflectance spectrum (UV-Vis DRS) to investigate the gap energy value, X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD) to investigate phase of a crystalline material and crystal size, and Scanning Electron Microscopy - Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX) to investigate the morphology and recognize the type of atom on the surface of a material. The effects of Ag/TiO2 coated cotton fabrics for footwear application on microbial disinfection have been assessed by Total Plate Count (TPC) method, using Escherichia Coli and Candida albicans as a model microorganism of skin bacteria and fungi, respectively. It was found that the optimum loading of Ag at 3wt% is evidenced by the effectiveness in disinfecting Escherichia Coli and Candida albicans up to 100%, the ability to self-cleaning and the ability in hydrophilicity will be described further in this paper.