Functionalization of cotton fabric at low graphene nanoplate content for ultrastrong ultraviolet blocking

Flexible fabric with remarkable ultraviolet (UV) blocking was deemed as the feasible personal protection to shield human body against external ultraviolet radiation. In this paper, graphene nanoplate (GNP) as a novel UV absorber was utilized to functionalize the surface of cotton fabric at low content (0.05–0.4 wt.%) via pad-dry-cure method. The morphology and structure of the as-obtained modified cotton fabrics were characterized with scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. Furthermore, the ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) was applied to evaluate UV blocking properties of the samples. The results indicated that the modified cotton fabric performed ultrastrong protection against UV radiation, up to 10-fold increment of UPF (from 32.71 to 356.74) was endowed only by incorporating graphene nanoplate 0.4 wt.%.