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The research in textiles is being driven by ecology, economy, and functionality. Therefore, the present research is focused on the development of multifunctional textiles that consume minimum energy during their processing, eco-friendly chemicals for functionalization, and use short processing steps. Eco-friendly cross-linkers such as butanetetracarboxylic acid and zinc oxide nanoparticles are used to impart wrinkle recovery, antibacterial activity, ultraviolet (UV) protection, bending rigidity, and antistatic properties to cotton fabric just in one step. The treated fabric has been characterized with Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope, and X-ray diffractometer. Wrinkle recovery, tear strength, antibacterial activity, UV protection, and antistatic properties were tested with AATCC 66-1990, ASTM D 1224, AATCC 147, AATCC 183, and UNI EN 1149, respectively. The treated fabric shows excellent functional properties up to 20 washing cycles.

Aerogels, due to their unique features like lightweight, ultra-low thermal conductivity, and design variations, have gotten a lot of interest in thermal insulation, photocatalysis, and protective areas. Besides their superior thermal properties, aerogel thermal insulation and photocatalyst materials also possess many inherent flaws, such as handling issues, high manufacturing costs, and low strength as well as toughness. The most persuasive and successful ways to improve photocatalytic and thermal insulating qualities while lowering costs are composition optimization and microstructure reconstruction. Their high surface area and porosity make them ideal for enhancing the efficiency and capacity of these devices. Research may lead to more efficient and longer-lasting energy storage solutions. This review describes the characteristics, microstructural reconstruction, design variation, and properties of all aerogel fabrication techniques and provides a comprehensive overview of scientific achievements linked to them. The effectiveness of raw material compositions, properties, and mechanical parameters are also discussed. The major goal of this review is to highlight the aerogel-based materials and design variations and to explore the most potential development trends for photocatalysis and thermal applications. The industrial as well as technical applications of silica aerogels are also highlighted. This review highlights futuristic applications of aerogel-based textile materials to alleviate the CO2 burden on our atmosphere, either by providing next-level thermal insulation or by employing them in CO2 mitigating technologies such as CO2 capture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of piezoelectric materials in electrical and electronic devices is increasing day by day owing to their promising unique characteristics. Here, polyvinylidene fluoride (P VDF) films were deposited on carbon fabric through solution cast technique. The evolution of ferroelectric β-phase in the films is controlled by the composition of the casting solution, number of layers of the films and drying conditions. The deposited films were characterized by FT IR, XRD, DSC, optical microscopy and open circuit voltage and closed-circuit current. The use of a hydrated salt in the casting solution, higher number of layers and drying in an oven at 50 °C results in higher content of β-phase. The observations depict that using this simple technique of deposition the output voltage and output current can be tailored as 95 V to 296 V and 1.5 μA to 5 μA for variable force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]