Nano yapılı fotokatalitik tekstillerin geliştirilmesi

This study focuses on assisting problems which have delayed the commercialization of the photocatalytic textile applications by the following innovative technological developments related to photocatalytic compounds; (i) extension of light absorption in the visible light range through addition of composite dopants and novel branched particles, (ii) developing techniques to avoid the photo-deterioration of the textile materials and (iii) introducing technologies to uniformly deposit the photo-catalysts on the textiles at an optimized concentration to obtain an improved photocatalytic efficiency. Utilization of novel nanoparticles such as branched silica is a newly explored area proposed in this thesis which is a potential breakthrough promoting photocatalytic activity visible light conditions while spontaneously enhancing particle attachment to the textile surface. Moreover, by doping TiO2 with branched silica, it is possible to induce a synergy by (i) extending the TiO2 band gap to the visible range, (ii) consequently decreasing the energy required for performing oxidation reactions, (iii) improving the photo-reaction speed and making an effective use of the solar and visible radiation and (iv) furthermore enhancing the water repelling activity on textiles. The major accomplishments of this study can be summarized by starting by the synthesis of uniformly sized branched silica particles. Both crystalline and amorphous titania (TiO2) particles were tested and found to improve in efficiency when they were mixed with branched silica in terms of extended absorption in the visible light range and deposition of photocatalytic compounds. Accordingly, an optimized dip coating process (via ultrasonic chemical bath deposition) was developed for textile manufacturing, which also helped improve hydrophobic performance and the surface attachment. This thesis also provides a systematic methodology to enable the production of self-cleaning textiles to be able to produce them with a commercialization potential.