Smart photoactive soft materials for environmental cleaning and energy production through incorporation of nanophotocatalyst on polymers and textiles

Abstract

Energy and environment are key issues for the sustainable development of human beings and are also the current and long-term focuses of scientific research. New energy and environmental technologies in combination with polymer and textile science work to create many additional functions for conventional polymers and fabrics.Therefore, some novel technical polymers and textiles, such as photovoltaic and photocatalytic polymers and textiles, have begun to emerge. Generally, light-activated chemicals, materials, or processes that are produced or enabled by light and the agent absorbing light starting a photochemical alteration in the system is nominated as photocatalyst. This review firstly introduces the different photoactive materials, their classifications, and degradation mechanism. Then, inorganic semiconductor nanoparticles were selected as the best candidate for the application in soft materials. Finally, a detailed study was provided on both preparations of photoactive soft materials using metal oxide semiconductors and their advantages and applications. This paper will be more helpful for the scientists working in the field of photoactive soft materials.

Synthesis and characterization of biodegradable poly(ester‐imide) nanocomposites with L‐alanine, curcumin, and modified rGO

“…Among the universal networks, polymers are the most complicated but are cheaper and easily processed 7 . In addition, polymers have a lower modulus and strength when used at lower temperatures 8 . Nanocomposite properties are particularly affected by the size scale of their aspect phases and the degree of mixing, so interfacial interactions between polymer and nanomaterials are significant 9 .…”

Dual Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Treatments for Synthesis of Ag–TiO2 Functionalized Polypropylene Fabrics

“…The immobilization of nanoparticles (NPs) such as TiO 2 , Ag, or Cu NPs on polymer fabrics such as polypropylene (PP), polyester (PET), cellulose, polyamide (PA), and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) brings new properties to the final fabric products and has been of increasing interest to both the academic and the industrial sectors. − Ag or TiO 2 NPs finished fabrics are widely studied because of their broad and diverse applications, including wastewater treatment, self-cleaning, UV blocking, and antibacterial applications . Soft fabrics count as good hosts for the semiconductors to improve their efficiency and to employ their benefits in daily life . There are a wide variety of synthetic methodologies available to obtain Ag or Ag/TiO 2 NPs finished fabrics using a combination of one or more methods, such as chemical reduction, − UV reduction, melt mixing, − the pad-dry-cure method, sonoprocessing , and grafting pretreatment to create an easy adsorption environment on the surface of fabrics and facilitate postprocessing by UV light reduction or dip deposition. − Nevertheless, most of the reported immobilization methods rely heavily on the use of cross-linking agents, reductant, or stabilizers such as dimethylaminoborane (DMAB), aldehydes, NaBH 4 , or butane tetracarboxylic acid (BTCA), which are generally expensive, toxic, or environmentally and biologically hazardous.…”

Cotton fibres functionalized with plasmonic nanoparticles to promote the destruction of harmful molecules: an overview

“…Different strategies published in the literature can be explored to generate TiO 2 NPs on cotton fibres: in the presence or absence of molecular binders between the cotton surface and functionalized titania NPs, prepared ex situ, assisted by ultrasound radiation or UV light or embedded in different polymers, just to mention a few [15][16][17][18][19]. In the present case, a non-hydrolytic sol-gel process followed by a mild hydrothermal treatment was used.…”