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IIT-D team develops highly adsorbent cotton fabric

The innovation comes at a time when air pollution is rising due to increasing levels of particulate matter

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IIT-D team develops highly adsorbent cotton fabric
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25 Aug 2021 12:25 AM IST

A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, have developed a modified cotton fabric that is capable of adsorbing harmful air pollutants from air, the premiere institute said recently. The innovation comes at a time when air pollution is rising due to increasing levels of particulate matter, nitrous oxide, sulfur oxide, carbon oxide, and other toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

The modified cotton namely ZIF-8@CM and ZIF-67@CM are Zeolite Imidazolate Framework (ZIF)-modified functionalised fabrics, which adsorb high levels of organic air pollutants like benzene, aniline, and styrene from the ambient air. It was developed by the research team led by Professor Ashwini K Agrawal including Professor Manjeet Jassal and Professor Saswata Bhattacharya from the Department of Physics at the SMITA research lab in the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering.

According to research scholar Hardeep Singh, who carried out detailed experiments to develop these fabrics, porous materials such as activated carbon, zeolites, and metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are capable of adsorbing VOCs from air. The MOFs can be tweaked to create textiles that have antimicrobial, biomedical, particulate matter filtering, fuel filtering, chemical warfare protecting and UV radiation absorbing properties.

"In this study, we have shown the functionalisation of cotton fabric by ZIF MOFs (ZIF-8 and ZIF-67) using a rapid, facile, eco-friendly, and scalable approach. The ZIF functionalised textiles possess a huge potential for applications as protective garments and in controlling indoor air pollution. These fabrics may be used as upholstery for controlling gaseous pollutants that cannot be filtered out using a filtering medium. In particular, these can be used within closed spaces, such as homes, offices, theatres, aeroplanes, and other transport vehicles," Professor Ashwin said.

The low-cost cotton fabricis capable of adsorbing 400-600 per cent more VOCs than ordinary cotton fabrics. According to the makers, the product has been built to withstand Indian climate and these special fabrics can withstand harsh conditions of washing too.

IIT-D team adsorbent cotton fabric 
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