THE STABILITY OF SUPERHYDROPHOBIC COTTON FABRICS PREPARED BY SOL–GEL COATING OF SiO2 AND TiO2

Superhydrophobic cotton fabrics are prepared using silica and titania hybrid sol and hexadecyltrimethoxysilane. The surface morphology of cotton fabrics is characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The water contact angles on the as-prepared superhydrophobic cotton fabrics is 159° when the volume ratio between sodium silicate solution and titania sol is 1:3, and the corresponding cotton fabrics can keep the contact angle of 152° after 10 cycles of home machine washing. Meanwhile the treated cotton fabrics can also keep superhydrophobicity after 60 min of UV light irradiation. These results indicate that the cotton fabrics treated with silica and titania hybrid sol and modified with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane show excellent superhydrophobic stability under washing and UV light irradiation. This paper provides the new notion and beneficial reference for the application of the superhydrophobic cotton fabrics in the future.