A photovoltaic smart textile and a photocatalytic functional textile based on co-electrospun TiO ₂ /MgO core–sheath nanorods: novel textiles of integrating energy and environmental science with textile research

TiO ₂ /MgO core–sheath structured nanofibers (NFs) were fabricated through co-electrospinning (i.e., coaxial electrospinning), and then the long TiO ₂ /MgO NFs were converted into short TiO ₂ /MgO nanorods (NRs) by ultrasonic treatment. Based on the TiO ₂ /MgO NRs, two novel technical textiles, that is, a photovoltaic smart textile integrating flexible dye-sensitized solar cells and a photocatalytic functional textile immobilizing photocatalyst, were developed. The effect of the insulating MgO sheath on the semiconducting TiO ₂ core was discussed. Compared with the pure TiO ₂ NR counterparts, the TiO ₂ /MgO NR-based photovoltaic and photocatalytic textiles exhibit better performances. The common reason for the performance enhancements is that the charge recombinations occurring in both photovoltaic and photocatalytic processes are greatly suppressed when TiO ₂ is coated by MgO. Finally, the potential applications of these two types of textiles were proposed. This work offers a unique insight into the development of special textiles through the combination of new energy and environmental technologies and traditional textile research.