DESPITE the importance of cotton fabrics and its blends in our lives, the lack of their thermal stability is one of the most important points to be studied. The ability of hyperbranched poly urethane-urea (HBPU) to improve the thermal stability of cotton and cotton (CO) polyester (CO/PET) fabrics was investigated. Different concentrations of HBPU were used for treatment of both CO and CO/PET fabrics. No significant effect on tensile strength properties was observed with CO fabrics, while tensile strength of treated CO/PET fabrics was affected by treatment with different concentrations of HBPU. TGA analysis shows enhanced char residue values with both treated CO and CO/PET fabrics. Polymer deposition on the surface of treated fabrics and structure changes were followed by SEM and FT-IR spectroscopy, respectively.
To overcome the hard and costly post-treatment separation of ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (UGCN), it was supported on polyurethane foam (PUF). The ratio of PUF/UGCN was optimized for the removal of a mixture of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes. The characteristics of the composite photocatalyst and its photocatalytic performance were detailly studied. The X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared results proved the successful preparation of UGCN and PUF and that the PUF/UGCN composite combines the features of both pure materials. The transmission electron microscopy illustrated the ultrathin nanosheet shape of the UGCN, while the scanning electron microscope showed the highly porous 3D-hierarchical structure of PUF. Compared to the pure components, the composite photocatalyst with PUF/UGCN mass ratio of 4 achieved better decolorization of MO and almost same decolorization of MB as UGCN. Neutral pH and 1 g/L of the composite photocatalyst were the optimum conditions for MB/MO mixture decolorization. The composite photocatalyst kept its efficiency for five successive cycles. Hydroxyl radicals were the dominant in the degradation of MB, while superoxide radicals were the most influencer in MO degradation. Conclusively, supporting UGCN onto PUF kept the photocatalytic efficiency of UGCN toward MB decolorization and improved its efficiency toward MO. Moreover, it enabled the reuse of the composite photocatalyst and facilitated the post-treatment separation process.
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