Self-cleaning cotton by porphyrin-sensitized visible-light photocatalysis

Self-assembled monolayers of meso-tetra(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (TCPP) were formed on anatase coated-cotton fabric to confer visible-light sensitized self-cleaning properties. A complete degradation of methylene blue in 110 min and removal of coffee and red wine stains in 16 h indicate that TiO2/TCPP-coated cotton fabrics exhibit superior visible-light self-cleaning performance as compared to bare TiO2-coated cotton. The fabrics were characterized by UV-Vis, FESEM, XRD and fluorescence spectroscopy. Visible-light induced self-cleaning cotton offers a great potential for indoor self-cleaning applications.