Indigo has been widely used as a dye in the industrial dyeing due to its good color fastness in dyeing cellulose fibers. However, excess reducing agent, “insurance powder (Na₂S₂O₄)”, was always used in the actual production of the factory, sparking serious pollution (water pollution and air pollution). Herein, we developed a practical and environment-friendly indirect electrochemical reduction of indigo, and applied this method for cloth dyeing. The electrochemical device was designed in the combination of source of electro-catalytic reduction and dyeing. The iron-triethanolamine-calcium gluconate (Fe-TEOA-Ca) complex played a role of key intermediate, and ultrasonic wave was found to speed up the indirect electro-catalytic process. The electrochemical performance of intermedia was improved by calcium ion addition. Washed with oxalic acid solution, the dyed fabric could achieve the level of color fastness in industry standard. Generally speaking, our method leads to a green route for indigo reduction using electrochemistry, which may change the crafting process of indigo dyeing in industry.

Kapok is a hollow fiber with a 90% hollow degree. Compared with cotton fiber, kapok fiber has excellent performances, such as good hygroscopicity, and a good warmth retention property. In this work, desized indigo kapok/cotton denim fabrics were bleached in different ways: Laser, cellulose enzyme, sodium hypochlorite, potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide. After bleaching, the K/S values, tensile strength, air permeability, thickness, color fastness to rubbing and the crease recovery angle of denim fabrics were measured through the spectrophotometer, tensile strength tester, air permeability tester, thickness tester, rubbing fastness tester and fabric crease elasticity tester, respectively. The surfaces of fabrics and fibers were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results show that the kapok/cotton fabrics were color-faded after five kinds of bleaching, the K/S values of denim with laser bleaching was declined dramatically, while there was a little change in the permeability. The tensile strength and the weight of the fabrics were decreased, and cloth which was bleached with potassium permanganate was most affected. The color fastness to rubbing and the crease recovery angle of denim fabrics with laser treatment is most suitable for industrial production. In general, laser bleaching is the better way to fade the kapok/cotton denim fabrics. Meanwhile, after five kinds of bleaching, the physical properties of kapok/cotton denim fabrics were similar to those of cotton denim fabric, which indicates that kapok/cotton denim fabric is suitable for the existing industrial bleaching technology.

Denim color fading ozonation is dissimilar from other ozone applications as it is employed with distinctive parameters and on special products. In this study, yarns of cotton, lyocell and PET treated by denim color fading ozonation were investigated in terms of the effects of time, pH and water content on their physical properties, which included chemical and crystalline structures, surface microstructure, yarns strength and elongation. It is found that, the cellulose in cotton and lyocell yarns has a loss of strength and elongation, while only slight impacts on their crystalline structures are observed. An aggregation and compact crystalline structure of PET prevents it from the decomposition of ozone, whose prevention may also benefit from its poor ability of moisture regain. As a result, synthetic materials, such as PET is recommended more than cellulose fibers to be used in ozone fading process. Meanwhile, such process should neither be employed on cotton, lyocell and other cellulose yarns at pH < 7 nor without paying attention to select a proper water content.

Fashion trends have promoted the use of oxidants in the textile sector recently. Conventionally, oxidants require an aqueous bath, with ozone; the worn style or faded effect on textile products could be achieved more ecologically. UV-assisted ozonation has been studied or applied to certain areas but not fading reactive-dyed textiles. In this study, the UV-assisted ozonation on color-fading reactive-dyed cotton was investigated. The effect of UV on ozone fading effect and the comparison of UV-assisted ozonation with conventional color-fading processes (hydrogen peroxide and chlorine) were carried out in terms of fading efficiency, negative impacts on fabrics’ mechanical properties, namely, tensile strength and elongation, tearing strength and abrasion resistance, and surface microstructure. It is found that UV strengthens the fading effect (up to 2.7 times) of ozonation with slight loss of cottons’ mechanical properties. UV-assisted ozonation is not only more effective than conventional fading processes in the respect of fading efficiency but also less negatively influenced fabrics mechanical properties. Additionally, it comparatively requires far less the use of water and power, so we may conclude that it proposed an excellent potential to alternate the conventional processes.