Title: Hydrophobicity imparted from self-assembled stearic acid molecules on Tio2 nano-structures formed on textile surfaces through ultraviolet irradiation

Biography:

C.A. Thennakoon is completed B.Sc(Applied sciences) and currently following for his Ph.D degree from university of peradeniya, He has training and research experiences in IISc, India and university of Brescia in Italy. And he has worked in several industries as a researcher and published more than 20 conference proceedings in local and international conference. And he has been working as a teaching assistant at postgraduate institute of science, university of peradeniya

Abstract

In recent years, hydrophobic layers formed on various surfaces have attracted a great deal of scientific and commercial attention due to their self-cleaning property with high water-repellent ability. TiO2 nanostructures, particularly, vertically-aligned 1-D nanomaterials (nanotubes, nanowires, nanorods, etc.) with self-assembled long chain fatty acids such as stearic acid are commonly used to impart these properties on surfaces such as glass, shoes, textiles, gloves, and so on.  Herein, we report a simple method to increase the hydrophobicity by increasing the number of self-assembled stearic acid molecules around TiO₂ nanoparticles. TiO₂ nanomaterials were formed on textile surfaces by dip-coating from a TiO₂ nanoparticulate dispersion formed from steam-assisted reaction of titanium isopropoxide.   The treated fabrics were then exposed to UV light (λ = 256 nm) for different times varying from 0 to 40 minutes and dried at 120 ËšC for 10 minutes. The U- irradiated, TiO₂-treated fabrics were then dipped in a solution of stearic acid at 30 ËšC for 1 hr, and dried at 50 ËšC. Hydrophobicity of the textile surfaces were evaluated by measuring contact angles and roll off angles of each sample. Crystal structure of TiO₂ was characterized by X-ray deffractometry (XRD), surface morphologies by scanning electron microscope (SEM). According to the XRD data, TiO₂ is composed of anatase form. Contact angles increased in the order 140Ëš, 146Ëš, 151Ëš, 154Ëš and 161Ëš with increased time of UV irradiation.