The method of TiO2-anatase film preparation on cotton and viscose fabric surfaces using the sol-gel process and microwave treatment is presented. Microwave treatment was used to change the amorphous TiO2 form to anatase directly on the fabrics. The influence of microwave treatment conditions on the obtainable polymorphic form of TiO2 was examined. Fabrics were pretreated with low-temperature air plasma (30 min). The root mean square height in the selected area increased from 44 to 166 nm (cotton) and from 9 to 112 nm (viscose). Infrared analysis showed the new band at 1748 and 1732 cm(-1) corresponding to C=O stretching for plasma-treated cotton and viscose textiles, respectively. The plasma pretreatment also improved the wetting properties by TiO2 sol and increased the surface free energy of fabrics. TiO2 film thickness was 180 nm (12 %wg. Ti) and 140 nm (3 %wg. Ti) for cotton and viscose, respectively. TiO2-modified cotton reduced the nicotine concentration three times more and TiO2-modified viscose was two times higher under sunlight compared to raw fabrics. No changes in strength were observed for TiO2-modified cotton, while the strength of TiO2-modified viscose decreased about 45 %. No effect of UV irradiation on cotton and a slight reduction of the strength of raw viscose (7 %) and TiO2-modified viscose (16 %) were observed. The Ti contents after washing decreased from 12 to 11 % (cotton) and from 3 to 2.6 % (viscose). The presented method allows obtaining TiO2 film-anatase on the cotton and viscose fabrics, but its total effectiveness is better for cotton fabrics.
