Hybrid materials based on ZnO and SiO2 nanoparticles as hydrophobic coatings for textiles

Abstract

This study presents a strategy to obtain textile materials with hydrophobic/oleophobic effect by applying hybrid coatings based on a mixture of flower-like ZnO nanoparticles and organically modified SiO2 nanoparticles (ORMOSIL). The obtained dispersions based on both types of nanoparticles are stable, with unimodal distribution of smaller quasi spherical shape and average size of 158 nm for SiO2 nanoparticles and respectively, with bimodal distribution with a broad distribution of particle size and average size of 144 nm and 435 nm for ZnO flower-like nanoparticles. The ZnO/SiO2 NPs based dispersions were then applied on 100% cotton fabrics on a laboratory scale by padding method in two successive phases. The functionalized cotton fabrics were evaluated in terms of surface morphology changes, whiteness degree and water and oils repellent properties. The developed textile materials exhibited a low wetting capacity, with high values of water absorption time (>15 minutes) and a water-repellent degree of 75 (AATCC photographic scale) and 2.5 respectively (ISO scale) showing an acceptable hydrophobic effect. The functionalization treatment based on mixture of ZnO/SiO2 nanoparticles led to obtaining an efficient cotton substrate for the rejection and protection against the oily substances which exhibit an oil repellency degree of 6. Also, the functionalization treatments did not significantly change the surface morphology of the fibres, suggesting that the bulk properties of the cotton fibres remained undamaged.