Functionalization of cotton fabric with titania silica aerogel using rice husk as precursor for enhanced UV shielding

In the present study titania silica aerogel (Ti(1- 6)SA) was prepared using rice husk as silica source via solgel method and the optimized for higher UV shielding behavior based on titania concentration. The optimized sample (TiSA) has been surface modified using 3-glycidoxypropyltriethoxysilane. Further, the surface modified titania silica aerogel (FTiSi) was further coated over cotton fabric through pad-dry-cure method and studied. The FTiSi coated cotton fabrics were studied for their UV shielding property, thermal and other basic fabric properties in addition to micrograph analysis. It is found that 5 wt% FTiSA coated cotton fabric delivers UPF value of 16.6. These results show that FTiSA coated cotton fabric possesses improved UV shielding when compared to neat cotton fabric. Thus, the low-cost silica aerogel with minimum quantity of titania developed in the present work can be utilized as functional material for industrial textiles to shield UV radiations. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.