The Effect of Silver Concentration on Ag-TiO2 Nanoparticles Coated Polyester/Cellulose Fabric by In situ and Ex situ Photo-reduction Method — A Comparative Study

In situ synthesis coating method of textile fabric is an efficient strategy to reduce the time and energies in comparison with ex situ synthesis methods. A facile in situ synthesis method was used to make TiO2-Ag nanoparticles (NPs) coated fabric and compared with a traditional ex situ synthesis method by a photo-reduction approach. The effect of silver concentration was assessed for both methods. The corona discharge treatment was used to increase the adhesion of the coating to the surface of the fabric. The FESEM and map showed more even distribution of the TiO2-Ag NPs coated fabric for in situ method in comparison with ex situ. DLS analysis was employed for determining the average particle size of the NPs colloids and show the fewer colloids average size of the in situ method than ex situ. The elemental analysis of the EDS and ICP showed a significant efficiency of the in situ synthesis method for silver nitrate reduction that leads to an increase in the nanoparticles concentration on the surface. Self-cleaning and antibacterial activity have been increased by in situ synthesis coating method in comparison with ex situ method. The enhancement of silver nitrate concentration led to a considerable increase in silver content for in situ method in comparison with ex situ method. However, the self-cleaning improvement showed a critical concentration at silver nitrate of 0.005 w/v%. The wash durability of the coated fabrics showed a significant increase in durability for in situ synthesis. The measurement of the mechanical strength of the fabrics showed no significant change with both methods of coating.