Smart textiles
- 1. Deeksha Singh Sengar B.Des FD 13/02
- 2. RMIT University develops nano-enhanced textiles that clean themselves with light Researchers at the RMIT University have developed a cheap and efficient new way to grow special nanostructures, which can degrade organic matter when exposed to light directly onto textiles. The work paves the way towards nano-enhanced textiles that can spontaneously clean themselves of stains and grime simply by being put under a light bulb or worn out in the sun, the University reports. The research has been published on the cover of the high-impact journal Advanced Materials Interfaces.
- 3. The researchers from the Ian Potter NanoBioSensing Facility and NanoBiotechnology Research Lab at RMIT worked with copper and silver-based nanostructures, which are known for their ability to absorb visible light. When the nanostructures are exposed to light, they receive an energy boost that creates hot electrons. These hot electrons release a burst of energy that is said to enable the nanostructures to degrade organic matter.
- 4. The study outlines the three-step process of getting the metal nanostructures onto the textile. Step1Priming the cotton fabric using an acidic solution of tin chloride. Step2 The fabric was then dipped into a palladium salt solution, which caused palladium (a rare metal) nuclei to spontaneously form on the fibers. Step3 Copper and silver baths hastened the growth of photoactive metal nanostructure s.
- 6. A team at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) developed a way to apply nanostructures directly onto cotton textiles using a process called electroless deposition “The advantage of textiles is they already have a 3D structure so they are great at absorbing light, which in turn speeds up the process of degrading organic matter,” he said. The RMIT team’s novel approach was to grow the nanostructures directly onto the textiles by dipping them into a few solutions, resulting in the development of stable nanostructures within 30 minutes. When exposed to light, it took less than six minutes for some of the nano-enhanced textiles to spontaneously clean themselves by degrading the organic matter on its fibers.
- 7. Dr Rajesh Ramanathan said the process developed by the team had a variety of applications for catalysis-based industries such as agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and natural products, and could be easily scaled up to industrial levels. The work is significant as it shows the potential for growing nanomaterials directly onto textile surfaces using simple and efficient processes, and understanding the underlying mechanistic aspect on the influence of light could help tailor the materials for other applications apart from catalysis.