The development of durable multifunctional properties is crucial for the production of high-performance technical textiles. In this work, a novel, environmentally friendly and facile method was developed for the chemical modification of cotton fabric by in situ biosynthesis of Ag NPs in the presence of sumac leaf extract as a reducing agent on TiO₂, ZnO and TiO₂ + ZnO previously applied to cotton fibres. The results showed that the presence of TiO₂, ZnO and TiO₂ + ZnO significantly increased the concentrations of the synthesised Ag NPs on the cotton fibres compared to the one-component Ag coating. This resulted in excellent antimicrobial properties of the TiO₂/Ag, ZnO/Ag and TiO₂ + ZnO/Ag composites even after 25 washes. While the TiO₂ and ZnO particles in the composite were incompatible, the synergistic effect among Ag, TiO₂ and ZnO in the composites resulted in excellent UV blocking properties of the coatings before and after 25 washes. Since the biosynthesis of Ag NPs was accompanied by a yellow–brown colouration of the samples, the photocatalytic self-cleaning of the composite coating could not be determined from the photodegradation rate of the coffee stains. This research provides a new environmentally friendly approach to producing durable antimicrobial and UV blocking coatings on cotton fibres.

The desirable chemical, physical, electronic, and optical properties of TiO₂, as well as its high availability, non-toxicity, and low price, make it very popular in the modern functional textile industry. Here, TiO₂ from titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) precursors at concentrations of 2, 4, and 6% and commercial TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) in dispersion form were applied to cotton textiles using low-temperature application methods (i.e., sol–gel pad–dry–cure, pad–hydrothermal, and exhaustion–hydrothermal methods) to provide a systematic study of the influence of low-temperature application processes and TIIP concentration and on the overall properties of TiO₂-functionalized textile materials. The treated cotton fabric samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) to determine their surface morphology, chemical composition, and crystal structure, while the optical properties of the synthesized TiO₂ were determined using the absorption method and Tauc plotting. Afterwards, corresponding UV protection properties and photocatalytic self-cleaning activity were evaluated. In contrast to commercial TiO₂, a relatively thin TiO₂ deposition with an amorphous structure and a blue-shifted band gap between 3.18 and 3.28 eV was formed when applied at low temperatures. A sol with a TIIP concentrations of 2 and 4% applied using the exhaustion–hydrothermal and sol–gel dry-cure method, respectively, proved to be optimal. Both applied sol concentrations provided good UV protection and excellent photocatalytic performance, which exceeded that of commercial TiO₂, even though the Ti contents in the samples were two- to three-times lower and the synthesized TiO₂ exhibited an amorphous structure.

Co-Cr alloys have good mechanical properties such as high hardness, excellent magnetic properties and good corrosion resistance. For this reason, they are most commonly used as dental and orthopaedic implants. Generally, cast Co-Cr-Mo alloys and forged Co-Ni-Cr-Mo alloys are used for the production of implants. In this study, we investigated two dental alloys, namely, Co-Cr-Mo and Co-Cr-W-Mo alloys. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of heat treatment on the development of the microstructure and to evaluate its influence on the alloys’ mechanical and tribological properties. The samples were first solution-annealed at 1200 °C in an argon atmosphere for 2 h, then quenched in water and subsequently aged at 900 °C in an argon atmosphere for 1, 3 and 12 h. A microstructural analysis was performed using SEM, with EDS for microchemical analysis and EBSD for phase identification. In addition, the Vickers hardness and wear resistance of the two alloys were analysed before and after heat treatment. The Co-Cr-Mo alloy showed better wear resistance and also a generally higher hardness than the Co-Cr-W-Mo alloy. Both alloys showed signs of abrasive and adhesive wear, with carbide particles detaching from the Co-Cr-W-Mo alloy due to the lower hardness of the matrix. The Co-Cr-Mo alloy showed the best abrasion resistance after the longest aging time (12 h), while the Co-Cr-W-Mo alloy showed the best as-cast abrasion resistance. With ageing, the wear resistance of both alloys increased.