Fabrication of highly durable polysiloxane-zinc oxide (ZnO) coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric with improved ultraviolet resistance, hydrophobicity, and thermal resistance.

Developing a universal strategy to improve the properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers, such as UV resistance, hydrophobicity, and thermal resistance, is highly desirable in expanding the application of PET fibers. Herein, a highly durable and robust ZnO layer was deposited onto PET fabric via radiation-induced graft polymerization (RIGP) of γ-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane (MAPS) and the subsequent sol-gel in situ mineralization with zinc acetate to produce wurtzite nanocrystalline ZnO. The as-obtained material, denoted as PET-g-PMAPS/ZnO. The interfacial layer consisted of Zn-O-Si and Si-O-Si covalent bonds not only leads to an improvement in adhesion between ZnO nanoparticles and its support, but it also overcomes the poor film-forming ability of inorganic particles. Most importantly, photocatalytic self-degradation of its organic support caused by the high photocatalytic activity of ZnO can be eliminated because of high bond energy of the organic-inorganic hybrid structure. PET-g-PMAPS/ZnO exhibited excellent thermal resistance, UV resistance and durability. Superhydrophobicity was achieved by simply annealing the PET-g-PMAPS/ZnO fabric at 200 °C in ambient air, and the coated fabric still retains its superhydrophobicity after 40 laundering cycles test and even stored for a few weeks. This study presents an effective method to overcome the bottle-necks in growing inorganic nanocrystals on polymeric supports surface.