Sodium hypophosphite and nano TiO2 inorganic catalysts along with citric acid on textile producing multi-functional properties

Nowadays, introducing a textile with multi-functional properties is in a central point of research also application of nano particles can be helpful to reach this goal. Here, nano TiO2, citric acid and sodium hypophosphite applied on the cotton/polyester knitted fabric to obtain divers features on the fabric. The results revealed an excellent performance of the treatment on diverse properties of the fabric including flame retardancy, anti-pilling, hydrophilicity, self-cleaning, antibacterial and UV protection properties. Increasing the concentration of CA enhanced both the photoactive properties and washing fastness of the TiO2 treated fabrics. Thermal behaviors of the treated fabrics displayed flame retardant characteristics with high char residue. Also the treated fabrics indicated the higher bioactivity and hydrophilicity with considerable lower pilling rate. This paper revealed a simple method on application of inorganic catalysts with friendly cross-linking agent to introduce multi-functional properties in the blended fiber yarns with knitted structure. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.