Light induced textile substrate with switchable and reversible wettability : Development of a switchability and reversibility effect between hydrophobic and hydrophilic states on a polyamide-66 textile substrate

Biomimicry means literally ‘imitation of life’ and is providing sustainable solutions for challenges that are occurring in the human lives. To date, the biomimic research reports that wettability in nature, e.g. self-cleaning effect on a lotus leaf and a striking water strider’s leg, is related to the cooperation between the chemical composition and the topography of the surface. Moreover, this study is developing a textile substrate that goes one step further than biomimic, called ‘Biomimicking beyond nature’. The focus of this study is establishing a 100% polyamide-66 textile substrate that is switchable and reversible between hydrophobic and hydrophilic states under stimulation of UV. In this study the behaviour of a polyamide-66 textile substrate, coated with three individual photoresponsive materials (azobenzene, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide), was investigated, under stimulation of 24 hours UV and one-week of storage period in dark conditions. Silicone was added to enhance the hydrophobicity of a titanium dioxide coated substrate. A switchability effect was detected, but no reversibility effect could be observed. The only organic photoresponsive material, azobenzene, obtained no significant results to conclude that an alternation between hydrophobic and hydrophilic was even present after 24 hours of UV radiation. However, azobenzene obtained more promising results on a 100% polyester textile substrate. Even though, the H0 cannot be rejected for all three individual photoresponsive materials, the zinc oxide coated polyamide-66 substrate, did exhibit the strongest results in switchability and reversibility. Based on the characterization measurements, a switchability effect from a hydrophobic surface (ca. 120°) to a hydrophilic surface (0°) can be observed after 24 hours of UV radiation. Moreover, a reversibility effect was only reported on a zinc oxide coated polyamide-66 substrate. The substrate partially reversed back to its original state with ca. 50%. Fabricating intelligent substrates could enhance many challenges confiscating today’s life. For instance, the development of smarts membranes or microfluidic switches, that alternate their wettability upon light radiation, could improve the exhausting manual labour in watering the harvest good in the agricultural industry. Therefore, it is of great importance that further research will be conducted upon the photoresponsive material, zinc oxide, in order to achieve more stable results. This study can be added to the relatively small area of knowledge around switchability phenomenon on textile substrates and can even been reported as one of the first attempts on developing a textile substrate with switchable and reversible characteristics, by use of a facile and possibly industrialized method