Photocatalytic Self Cleaning Textile Fibers by Coaxial Electrospinning

Photocatalytic self cleaning textile fibers have been created using coaxial electrospinning. This is accomplished by electrospinning cellulose acetate as the core phase and a dispersion of nanocrystalline TiO2, a well-known photocatalyst, in the sheath phase. A simple deacetylation step after the initial electrospinning yields self-cleaning textile fibers. Self-cleaning activity is exhibited at moderate power densities in indoor lighting conditions. Nanofibers created from coaxial electrospinning outperform TiO2 surface loaded nanofibers obtained by conventional electrospinning. Surface-loaded fibers degrade blue dye stains only to a minimum of 20 % of the initial concentration, whereas fibers created by coaxial electrospinning fully degrade stains (in 7-8 h).