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Superhydrophobic antibacterial cotton fabric can be widely applied in outdoor clothing, hospital bedding, and other fields. However, the existing manufacturing methods are difficult or complicated. Herein, a facile and straightforward fabrication strategy is proposed via a one-step hydrothermal method to construct micro-nanometer hierarchical structure with low surface energy on fabric. In an appropriate amount, 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (PFOTES) and tetrabutyl titanate (TBT) were mixed in a hydrothermal reactor to generate titanium dioxide. Meanwhile, the PFOTES agent was hydrolyzed and condensed, bonded with titanium dioxide, and finally grafted onto the fiber together. Morphology and elements results demonstrated that the fabric surface was covered by the TiO2 nanoparticles with superhydrophobic coating. The chemical bonds of Si-O-Ti, Ti-O-C, and Ti-O-Ti revealed the structural relationship between TiO2 with PFOTES and cotton fibers. The water contact angle of the fabric obtained can reach to 168°. The fluorinated-TiO2 cotton fabric showed high antibacterial properties in visible light against E. coli and S. aureus. This simple method of preparing superhydrophobic and antibacterial fabric exhibited great potential in the field of functional textiles such as outdoor garments and hospital-related applications.

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The self-cleaning textiles coated with reduced graphene oxide-titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanocomposites have enhanced photocatalytic activities and could have great potential in practical applications. However, it is still problematic regarding how to avoid aggregation of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets in producing reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposites. In this research article, we propose a new method to reduce the aggregation of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets in producing cotton fabrics coated with reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposites by combining vibration-assisted ball milling and hydrothermal synthesis process. The microstructure and photocatalytic-related properties of the resultant reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposites and their coating cotton fabrics were characterized by using a series of techniques including field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Raman, particle size distribution, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller,(BET), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscope (UPS), and photoluminescence (PL). It was indicated that the aggregation of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets in reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposites was successfully avoided via ball milling in the presence of tetrabutyl titanate. After hydrothermal treatment, the resulting reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposites were firmly immobilized on cotton fabric. It was demonstrated in the self-cleaning experiments that the resultant self-cleaning cotton fabrics are hydrophilic and could directly decompose color contaminants such as methylene blue, Congo red, and coffee stains under simulated sunlight irradiation due to the photo-degradation reactions of the reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposite coating. The reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 nanocomposite-modified cotton fabric also exhibited excellent performance in both robust abrasion resistance and soap-washing resistance. The fabric photocatalytic self-cleaning capability was not found to decrease significantly after being repeatedly used for five times.