Development of a quantitative assessment method for self cleaning by photocatalytic degradation of stains on cotton

Abstract

This paper reports a standardised method termed as Stain Degradation Assessment (SDA) method, developed for the quantitative evaluation of self-cleaning efficiency of the finished fabric. The method involves (i) a standardized staining procedure to apply a uniform stain on the fabric, (ii) instrumental evaluation of photodegradation of stain in terms of <i style="">K/S</i> using a template to reduce error, and (iii) analysis of <i style="">K/S</i> values to evaluate stain degradation in percentage and its comparison with visual assessment. This method has been found to give a reproducible and comparable assessment of stain degradation on the textile material with respect to UV exposure.