Functionalised nanoparticle coating for next generation repellent textiles(REPETEX)

对全氟化碳和多氟烷基物质（PFC和PFAS）的持续关注和加强监管，正在推动纺织品市场寻找可持续的替代化学品。纺织品对替代性、更环保、更耐用的防水剂（DWR）有着明确的需求。目前，使用高氟化化学物质可提供最高水平的防水性和防油性。不幸的是，性能最好的PFC，由于其主链中的8个碳原子而被称为C8，也引起了围绕纺织品中氟化副产品损失的重大健康和环境问题。对有毒物质释放的关注贯穿于产品的整个生命周期，从生产到生命结束。已知这些副产品具有生物累积性，在环境/食物链中具有极强的持久性，并可能致癌。因此，在欧洲联盟（欧盟）内，全氟辛烷磺酸（全氟辛烷磺酸）在纺织品中的可检测水平为每平方米1微克（欧洲联盟，2006年）。这将通过开发合适的分子结构来实现，该分子结构结合了低表面能22（mN/m）特性和合适的结合基团，以促进与纤维表面的化学结合，从而产生高性能产品。TWI的研究创新将通过在水溶液中开发功能化二氧化硅纳米颗粒来提供低表面能解决方案，该水溶液可以掺入水基油墨中用于印刷到纺织品上。功能化二氧化硅（二氧化硅）纳米颗粒通过利用选择性设计的表面化学来操纵纺织品微结构纤维的天然表面粗糙度，在提供超疏水特性方面发挥关键作用。这提供了在不使用全氟辛烷磺酸的情况下纳米级超疏水性能所需的提升。该联盟的专业知识和现有的供应链将推动技术纺织品市场的发展。

The ongoing concerns and heightened regulation of perfluorocarbons and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFCs and PFASs), is driving the textile market to search for sustainable alternative chemistries. There is a clear demand for alternative, greener, durable water repellents (DWR) for textiles.The current state of the art that offers the highest level of repellency for both oil and water resistance has been achieved using highly fluorinated chemical substances. Unfortunately, the best performing PFCs, known as C8 due to the 8 carbon atoms in their backbone chain, also raise significant health and environmental concerns that surround the loss of fluorinated by products from textiles. The concern of toxic releases is throughout the life-cycle of the product, from production to end of life. The by-products are known to be bioaccumulative and extremely persistent in the environment/food chain and are possibly carcinogenic. Therefore, within the European Union (EU), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) is regulated to detectable levels of 1 µg per square metre in textile fabrics (European Union, 2006).The project objective will be to deliver cost-effective alternative treatment that will provide textile with durable repellent characteristics. This will be achieved by developing suitable molecular structures which incorporate both low surface energy 22 (mN/m) properties and suitable binding groups to facilitate chemical bonding to the fibre surface yielding a high-performance product. The research innovation of TWI, will provide low surface energy solution through the development of functionalised silica nanoparticles within an aqueous solution that can be incorporated into a water-based ink for printing on to textiles. Functionalised silica (silicon dioxide) nanoparticles play a key role in providing superhydrophobic properties by manipulating the natural surface roughness of the textile microstructure fibres with selectively designed surface chemistry. This provides the uplift required from superhydrophobic performance at the nanoscale level without the use of PFOS. The expertise of the consortium and the supply-chain in place will propel the development into the technical textiles market.Awaiting Public Project Summary