Environmental and Performance Assessment of Fabricated Hydrophobic and Flame-Retardant Cotton Fabrics with Functional Integrated Graphene

Abstract There is a conflict between enhancing the functionality of products and reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing in the materials industry. Using green chemicals or adopting cleaner production processes can help overcome this conflict. However, researchers usually neglect the substitution effect when selecting green technology, namely, that investing more in chemical development decreases the resources used in cleaner process techniques. This study demonstrated this substitution effect in the modification of cotton fabrics. We fabricated hydrophobic and flame-retardant cotton fabrics with functional integrated graphene. It was found that these fabrics can be prepared in one step. As seen from an environmental assessment, applying functional integrated graphene can decrease the time required, reduce the energy consumption, and reduce the wastewater discharge. Based on the hydrophobicity-flame retardancy quadrant, we found that functional integrated graphene can improve the compatibility of different functionalities. On the other hand, compared to the use of commercial finishing agents, using functional integrated graphene can reduce organic discharge by up to 92%. This study demonstrates that using green chemicals can reduce pollution discharge and result in a cleaner production process. This study also provided atom economic ideas for green modification of cellulosic materials.