Multifunctional linen cellulose fabric coating: Combined heat storage and thermoregulation, hydrophobicity, UV resistance and antibacterial properties

Functional thermoregulation fabrics have emerged as a significant area of research and development within the textile industry, garnering extensive attention in recent years. Herein, dodecyl alcohol/paraffin wax-styrene-acrylate emulsions (DD/PW-TiO₂/FSiWSA) were prepared using the core-shell emulsion polymerization method and used for the finishing of linen fabrics. To address the issues of low solid content, insufficient stability, and poor water resistance in water-based styrene-acrylic emulsions (WSA), nano-TiO₂ was first modified with 3-methacryloxy propyl trimethoxysilane (KH-570). Subsequently, KH-570 modified nano-TiO₂ and organic fluorosilicon were simultaneously introduced into the polymer skeleton. The structural characteristics of DD/PW-TiO₂/FSiWSA were studied. The results shows that the DD/PW-TiO₂/FSiWSA coating increases the water contact angle (WCA) of linen fabric from 0° to 131.95°, while also providing excellent stain resistance. The modified fabric has excellent anti-UV properties, and the UV protection factor is as high as 56.16. Moreover, the modified fabric exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against A. niger and S. aureus. Encouragingly, the modified fabric has excellent heat storage and temperature regulation capability, with a peak phase transition temperature of 23.6 °C, a latent heat of fusion of 25.36 J/g, and a 65.9 % increase in thermal conductivity. The coating is universal and can enhance the hydrophobicity of materials such as cotton fabrics, polyester cotton, paper, cardboard and wood, with a WCA range of 115.56° ~ 131.72°. Therefore, this multifunctional coating will lead cellulose materials towards diverse applications.