Realizing visible-light-induced self-cleaning property of cotton through coating N-TiO2 film and loading AgI particles.

The visible-light-induced self-cleaning property of cotton has been realized by coating N-TiO(2) film and loading AgI particles simultaneously. The physical properties were characterized by means of XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and DRS techniques. The visible light photocatalytic activities of the materials were evaluated using the degradation of methyl orange. In comparison with TiO(2)-cotton, the dramatic enhancement in the visible light photocatalytic performance of the AgI-N-TiO(2)-cotton could be attributed to the synergistic effect of AgI and N-TiO(2), including generation of visible light photocatalytic activity and the effective electron-hole separations at the interfaces of the two semiconductors. The photocatalytic activity of the AgI-N-TiO(2)-cotton was fully maintained upon several numbers of photodegradation cycles. In addition, according to the XRD patterns of the AgI-N-TiO(2)-cotton before and after reaction, AgI was stable in the composites under visible light irradiation. Moreover, a possible mechanism for the excellent and stable photocatalytic activity of AgI-N-TiO(2)-cotton under visible light irradiation was also proposed.