Preparation and characterization of polyester fabrics coated with TiO2/Benzotriazole for UV protection

In this paper, organic ultraviolet absorber 2-hydroxy-4-(3 methacrylate-2-hydroxypropoxy) benzotriazole (BTMA) was synthesized, and characterized by H-1 NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and ultraviolet spectroscopy. TiO2 nanosol was prepared using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) by a sol-gel method. The synthesized BTMA and TiO2 nanosol were mixed to form an organic/inorganic hybrid and coated onto polyester (PET) fabrics. The coated PET fabrics were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) analysis. Thermal stability, UV protective property, washing stability, and tensile strength of the coated PET fabrics were measured. The coated PET fabrics showed excellent UV protection properties and stability toward washing. It was found that the addition of nanoTiO(2) and BTMA in the anti-UV coatings could significantly improve the UV light stability of the fabrics.