Excellent UV-Absorbing Cotton Fabric with High Durability and Hydrophobicity Based on Surface-Initiated ATRP of Polymerizable Organic UV-Absorber

Abstract

\n Ultraviolet (UV) protective cotton fabric is a convenient and reliable way to protect human body from sunlight. Herein, a polymerizable organic UV-absorber, 2-hydroxy-4-(3-methacryloxy-2-hydroxylpropoxy) benzophenone (BPMA) was prepared from the ring-opening addition reaction of 2,4-dihydroxybenzophenone (UV-0) with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). The initiators tethered cotton fabric (CF-Br) were prepared by the immobilization of α-bromoisobutyryl groups. PBPMA grafted cotton fabric (CF-g-PBPMA) was fabricated via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP). The experimental results indicated that BPMA was successfully synthesized, and PBPMA chains were successfully grafted from CF-Br. Importantly, CF-g-PBPMA exhibited excellent UV absorption performance, hydrophobic ability and outstanding durability. Compared with the UV protection factor (UPF) of the original cotton fabric (3.5), the UPF of CF-g-PBPMA achieved 241.5, which was far beyond the excellent protection UPF rating (50+) and was up to 69-fold higher than that of original cotton fabric. Compared with the water contact angle (WCA) of the original cotton fabric of 46°, the WCA of CF-g-PBPMA reached 140°, showing excellent hydrophobic property. In addition, after five washing cycles, CF-g-PBPMA showed an outstanding durability with the WCA and UPF achieving 131° and 226.9, respectively.