Improvement in the Leaching Behavior of Dye-Doped Modified Silica Layers Coated onto Paper or Textiles

Leaching stability is important when refining paper or textile surfaces with sol-gel silica layers that contain incorporated dyes or other components. First studies show a simultaneous increase in dye and Si concentration in the wash-out solution, indicating that the gradual dissolution of the complete composite layer plays an important role in the leaching process. The leaching stability of silica layers containing incorporated model dyes Aniline Yellow and Acid Orange 10 on different flexible substrates (cellulose paper, polyamide and polyester fabrics) could be improved in a number of different ways: (i) pretreating the substrate with coupling agents such as epoxyalkyl-silanes, (ii) fixing the dye within the silica layer by mixing it with alumina or alkylammonium compounds, and (iii) chemically fixing the dye by bonding it covalently to the silica matrix.