Abstract: To endow the cotton fabric with the superhydrophobic and self-cleaning properties, a porous TiO₂ nanotube network is constructed on its surface based on the bionics principle. TiO₂ nanotubes were prepared by TiO₂ nanoparticles as its raw material. Subsequently, perfluorooctyl triethoxy silane was grafted onto the TiO₂ nanotubes, and finally the fluorinated TiO₂ nanotubes were coated to the surface of the cotton fabric. According to the contact angle test, the results indicated that coated cotton fabric has good superhydrophobic properties. And self-cleaning and UV resistance tests have also demonstrated good self-cleaning and UV resistance based on TiO₂ nanotube mesh coating.

Key words: TiO₂ nanotubes; cotton fabric; super-hydrophobic; anti-ultraviolet; self-cleaning