Sustainable wearable infrared shielding bamboo fiber fabrics loaded with antimony doped tin oxide/silver binary nanoparticles

The development of modern infrared detection technology has increased the possibility that military targets will be identified. Therefore, the task of protecting these targets is urgent extremely. The infrared stealth materials should be versatile to achieve the performance requirements of different applications and should be sustainable to achieve environmental friendliness. In order to solve this problem, an antimony doped tin oxide/silver/bamboo fibers (ATO-Ag-BFs) composite bamboo fabrics with multi-functional properties including infrared protection and antibacterial and hydrophobic properties were developed by the combination of ATO loading, chemical deposition, and hot press process. The ATO-Ag-BFs fabrics possessed plasmon resonance absorption properties of near-infrared light, which was attributed to the formation of Schottky junction by direct contact between Ag and ATO nanoparticles. The resulting ATO-Ag-BFs shows the infrared emissivity as low as 0.68 in the 8–14 μm thermal imaging band, which allowed the target to be blended adequately into environmental background. In addition, ATO-Ag-BFs treated with n-hexadecyl mercaptan exhibited remarkable hydrophobic properties with a water contact angle (WCA) of 147.7° compared to the non-hydrophobic treated ATO-Ag-BFs, which increased by 273.9%. Especially, the combination of Ag and ATO nanoparticles endowed bamboo fiber fabrics with outstanding antibacterial properties, with 100% inhibition of both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Overall, the multi-functional ATO-Ag-BFs based on bamboo fibers developed in this study can be applied in the field of wearable infrared and thermal radiation shielding to meet the requirements for concealment in harsh environments, proving that it is a tremendous potential candidate for infrared stealth materials. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]