Self-cleaning cotton fabrics with good flame retardancy via one-pot approach

The demand for multifunctional cotton fabrics possessing fire retardancy and hydrophobic self-cleaning property is soaring in recent years. In this work, non-halogen functional coatings by water-soluble phenylphosphinyl and amine-containing silanol (WPAS) were prepared through sol-gel method, in which functional cotton fabrics embraced with flame retardant (FR) and hydrophobic properties, simultaneously. The prepared WPAS coated functional fabrics reached as high as 30.4% for LOI value, and extinguished immediately after removing the ignitor in vertical fire test. Low-energy center dot PO free radicals released by WPAS which was detected by TG-MS and TG-FTIR, captured high energy radicals such as center dot H or center dot OH radicals in the gas-phase. The char residue study from SEM, FTIR, Raman and XPS results found that P/Si/N thermostable ceramic char layer and aromatic carbonaceous structures formed which could provide a good barrier effect, effectively hindering diffusion of oxygen and transferring of heat into the flame zone. Additionally, water contact angle of functional cotton increased to 145 degrees compared with cotton. As a result, it displayed hydrophobic self-cleaning property towards a series of common liquids in daily life. This convenient, eco-friendly one-pot approach is promising, and feasible for large-scale production of functional cotton fabrics with both excellent FR and hydrophobic self-cleaning properties to end-use industrial applications. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study successfully prepared multifunctional cotton fabrics with flame retardant and hydrophobic self-cleaning properties through WPAS coating, achieving enhanced flame retardancy and improved water repellency, which shows promising potential for industrial applications.