Cotton fabric coated with functionalized Zn-Doped Fe2O3 NPs for a Visible-Light activated durable Antibacterial, UV-Shielding, and organic degradation

For the development of multifunctional textiles, the incorporation of extremely small materials has increased in recent times. Immobilization of these nanomaterials for durable functionality is a big issue due to the lack of binding with textile surfaces. In this study, Zn-doped Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by the sol–gel method for visible light active organic catalysis instead of UV irradiated catalysis. To improve their affinity, grafting with organically modified silane and the cationic agent was done. For surface morphology characterization SEM analysis, to confirm the doping and grafting, TGA, and FTIR were done. The size was analyzed by a zeta sizer. After the application of NPs at the fabric surface physicochemical and visual characterizations such as SEM, and FTIR were used. Qualitative and quantitative antibacterial effectiveness was assessed against S. aureus and E. coli according to standard test methods like AATCC-147 and ISO-20743, respectively with bacterial growth inhibition ≥ 90 %. Dye degradation efficiency with undoped (8.04 %), and doped Fe2O3 NPs (97 %) was evaluated by UV/vis spectroscopy under D65 artificial sunlight (visible light). The significant effect of Zn dopant and silanes' concentration. Treated fabrics before and after 30 washing cycles exhibited notably good ultraviolet protection with a mean UPF of > 60.