Hameed et al. J Pure Appl Microbiol, 13(4), 2241-2249 | December 2019 Article 5601 | https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.13.4.38 Print ISSN: 0973-7510; E-ISSN: 2581-690X RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS Synthesis and Characterization of a Novel Titanium Nanoparticals using Banana Peel Extract and Investigate its Antibacterial and Insecticidal Activity Rasha Sattam Hameed*, Raghad J. Fayyad, Rasha Saad Nuaman, Noor T.</s>Hamdan and Sara A.J. Maliki Biology Department, Collage of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Iraq. Abstract Titanium nanoparticles (TiNPs) have been synthesized due to its certain characteristics that are expected like non-toxic, eco-friendly, and bioactivity. In this study, the researchers used Banana Peels Extract (BPE) with titanium dioxide to prepare new nanoparticles which are never carried before. These nanoparticles were biologically synthesized using an aqueous solution of banana peel extract as a bioreductant.</s>The novel TiNPs were successfully prepared and characterized using Ultraviolet–Visible Spectroscopy (UV-VIS), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), and examined its antimicrobial activity against several pathogenic bacteria as well as insecticidal agent against Musca domestica. The instrumental analysis confirms the presence of TiNPs with average diameter: 88.45 nm and volume 31.5 nm as resulted by AFM and XRD respectively, while the bioactivity exam to TiNPs shows inhibitory effect against several pathogenic bacteria, as well as it cause a high mortality percentage against three larval stages of house fly.</s>Keywords: Banana Peel Extract (BPE), eco-friendly, titanium nanoparticals, Musca domestica. *Correspondence: rasha.ha@yahoo.com (Received: 18 August 2019; accepted: 12 November 2019) Citation: Rasha Sattam Hameed, Raghad J. Fayyad, Rasha Saad Nuaman, Noor T. Hamdan and Sara A.J. Maliki, Synthesis and Characterization of a Novel Titanium Nanoparticals using Banana Peel Extract and Investigate its Antibacterial and Insecticidal Activity, J Pure Appl Microbiol., 2019; 13(4):2241-2249. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.13.4.38 © The Author(s) 2019. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.</s> Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology 2241 www.microbiologyjournal.org INTRODUCTION Green synthesis of nanoparticles seeks to minimize generated wastes and apply prospective progression1,2. In latest years, materials with nano-sized aspect have paying an attention to the researchers all the way through the world. In up to date nano science and technology, the interface between inorganic nanoparticles and biological structures are one of the majority exciting area of research. In addition to that another thing is concern in this field of study like health, environmental (eco-friendly), non-toxic materials in synthesis procedures3,4. Besides that, biosynthesis of nanoparticles has other properties like optical, catalytic, and magnetic properties which allow them to be applied in biosensing, catalysis, imaging, drug delivery, and in medicine and since it has this wide applications the production of nanoparticles is a significant aspect of nanotechnology5,6.</s> Plants, enzymes, and microorganisms were suggested to be used as probable natural alternatives products to the lethal chemicals that are non-biodegradable, hazardous to all living creatures on the earth, as well as its high cost7.</s>Plants extracts serve as capping and reducing agents in the preparation of nanoparticles which are more beneficial comparing with other biological procedures8 these techniques of nanoparticles synthesis which based on plants are favored due to its properties as, ecofriendly, cost- effective, a single-step biosynthesis process and non-toxic to workers and researchers9. Classically, different parts of the plant can be used as the main source to obtain the extract such as, fruit, fruit peels, bark, callus, and root. These parts have been examined in the synthesis of gold, silver, titanium nanoparticles in various shapes and sizes10.</s> Banana (Musa paradaisica), belongs to the Musaceae family, and it is a standout amongst the most vital tropical fruits in the world market and usually after pulp consumption, banana peels are usually discarded, the peels represent approximately 18-33% of the whole fruit, and presently peels are not used for any other purposes and sometimes it is used as animals food in a very limited extent11. It is therefore a significant and vital to discover applications for these peels in ecological topics. It was found that banana peels are rich in pectin, lignin and hemicelluloses which encourage the researchers in current study to use them in green synthesis of nanoparticles, furthermore, banana peels contains large amounts of phenolic compounds that can act as a ligand and coordinate with the metal ion and form the metallic nanoparticles12. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is naturally formed and usually used as a white pigment and paints, food colorants, papers, plastics, inks, and toothpastes because it is nontoxic, it is also considered as low-cost metal due to its wide existence in nature. Due to its ability to absorb UV light and high refractive index, TiO2 nanoparticles have been used to synthesize nanoparticles with many plants like Nyctan, arbortristis extract, leaf extract of Catharanthus roseus, Eclipta prostrate aqueous leaf extract, and peel extract of Annona squamosa L.13,14. In the current paper, titanium dioxide has been used for the first time with the water extract obtained from banana peels to synthesize the titanium nanoparticles TiNPs and was characterized using several instrumental analysis (UV–visible spectroscopy, XRD and AFM). Activity of nove TiNPs against bacteria and insecticide agents as well as against several pathogenic bacteria and (Muscadomestica) respectively has been examined and discussed. MATERIALS AND METHODS Preparation of Banana Peel Extract (BPE) Fresh banana was gained from local markets; banana peels were cut it into small pieces, washed three times with distilled water to remove external dirt layers and contaminants from it then, the peels pieces were dried on paper toweling. A 75 g of peels were place in a beaker containing 150 ml double distilled water and then boiled at 100°C for 20 min, and filtered through Whatman No. 1 filter paper for two times. The extract was stored in fridge at 4°C15. Preparation of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) Titanium dioxide was obtained from Sigma Aldrich, China. Molar mass was 79.87g/ mol and density was 4.2 g/cm3. Their average size of the titanium oxide bulk particles (TiO2BPs) was (550 nm). Deionized distilled water (DW) was used as a solvent to prepare a solution of (100 mg/ml) concentration, and then only 5 ml of this solution 2242 www.microbiologyjournal.orgHameed et al. J Pure Appl Microbiol, 13(4), 2241-2249 | December 2019 | https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.13.4.38Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiologywas added in dropwise to 50 ml of Banana Peel Extract (BPE) solution with a continuance stirring (300 rpm) for one hour, this mixing process was a achieved on a hot plate using magnetic stirrer and at ambient temperature. Characterization of TiO2 nanoparticles UV–visible Spectroscopy The UV–VIS absorption spectra of novel TiNPs solution was achieved using Schimadzu 1601 spectrophotometer and 200–800 nm range16.</s>Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) This analysis was used to characterize many properties of biosynthesized NPs such as, NPs size, NPs surface, NPs topography, and granularity volume distribution of NPs. A thin film of the NPs sample was prepared on a glass slide using 100µl of the sample on the slide, allowed to dry for 5 min, then the slide was scanned using AFM, (AA-3000, USA)17. X-Ray Diffraction X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD) was used to determine and identify the formation of the synthesized NPs, the XRD apparatus (Shimadzu 6000, Japan) operate at a voltage of (40 kv) and current of (30 mM) with Cu Kα radiation in a (θ-2θ) configuration. Microorganisms Microorganisms were collected from laboratory of post graduate in biology department / College of Science / AL-Mustansireyah University.</s>These micro-organisms are: Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus sp., Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus sp.) and Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Kleipseilla sp.,) the strains of bacteria were maintained on nutrient agar slants at 4°C. Antibacterial activity of synthesized NPs and banana peel extract (BPE) Three concentrations of TiO2NPs were prepared in (100, 50, and 25 mg/ml)m there bioactivity were evaluated using well diffusion method according to (CLSI)18. Insects rearing and Larvicidal bioassay The Insects colony was collected from house fly (Musca domistica) which is free from insecticides and pathogenic organisms, this animal house belong to Biology Department, College of Science, Al-Mustansiriyah University. The colony was maintained under 28 ± 2 °C (starting from 1st 2243 larval stage reaching to 3rd instar stage). The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd instar larvae were completed in healthy environment; each test was replicated for three times. The collected Musca domistica larvae were placed in a cup contains 10 g of nutritional media (this media consist of 10 g of yeast extract, 200 g of fish food, and 100 ml of distilled water). 2 mL from each concentration of TiO2NPs were added to each cup; all cups were covered with muslin cloth and kept in room temperature for 24 hrs. Larvae were considered dead if there is no significant motility19, mortality percentage was calculated by applying Abbott’s formula20: X - Y X X 100 = Percent of corrected control X: Percent of alive in the check Y: Percent of alive in the treatment RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Identification of TiO2 nanoparticals Titanium nanoparticles were identified via different considerations, visually the reaction mixture of TiNPs turned to white grayish color after 30 min. comparing with the white color of titanium oxide indicating the formation of titanium nanoparticles as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1. Shows the comparison between three solutions: A: Titanium Dioxide bulk solution B: Water extract of banana peel solution C: Titanium Dioxide nanoparticles solution Table 1. Dimensions of synthesized TiO2 NPs Roughness average Root mean square Average diameter 1.53 nm 1.77 nm 88.45 nm www.microbiologyjournal.orgJournal of Pure and Applied MicrobiologyHameed et al. J Pure Appl Microbiol, 13(4), 2241-2249 | December 2019 | https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.13.4.38Fig. 2. Absorbance spectrum of synthesized (TiO2NPs) inhibition zone diameter was varies as depicted in Table 2, while Banana Peels Extract (BPE) did not shows any activity against these bacteria.</s> All the prepared concentrations of titanium nanoparticals shows bioactivity against the gram positive bacteria (Stapylococcus aureus), and (Steptococcus spp.) while the first concentration (25%) doesn’t shows any activity against (Staphylococcus Epidermidis, Escherecia.</s>coli, Klebsiella spp., and Bacillu ssp.) as it is clearly UV–Visible Spectral Fig. 2 represent the TiNPs UV-Visible spectra, the TiO2 absorbance was 4.2 at wave length 208 nm, while Fig. 3 shows the value of energy gap (Eg) of TiNPs which was 4.7(ev) these results are agreed with Jawad 201721. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) Table 1 indicates the size of TiNPs ranged between (65-115 nm) with average diameter (88.45 nm), while the roughness average (RA) and root mean square were 1.53 nm and 1.77 nm respectively. Fig. 4 shows AFM topographic images of the TiNPs while Fig. 5 shows granularity volume distribution of TiNPs. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) Fig. 6 shows the X-Ray Diffractometer pattern, the diagram indicates the presence of three peaks, strong diffraction peaks (2-theta 28.2956°), (2-theta 40.4901°), and (2-theta 50.1821°), while the average crystallite size of TiNPs was 31.5 nm according to Scherer’s equation.</s>Antimicrobial activity of titanium nanoparticles Bioactivity of the novel TiNPs showed that these nanoparticals exhibited antimicrobial impact against the pathogenic microorganisms, the Fig. 3. Energy gap diagram for (TiO2NPs) thin film Fig. 4. AFM topographic images 2244 www.microbiologyjournal.orgHameed et al. J Pure Appl Microbiol, 13(4), 2241-2249 | December 2019 | https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.13.4.38Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiologyappear from Table 2. Also the results show that there was no antimicrobial activity for banana peel extract against all tested pathogens. Table 2 indicates that best effective concentration to the newly synthesized TiNPs was on 50% conc., this concentration shows strong bioactivity against gram positive bacteria than negative bacteria, that’s because Gram negative bacteria have cell walls with a thin layer of peptidoglycan and an outer membrane with a Fig. 5. Granularity volume distribution of TNPs Fig. 6. X-Ray Diffractometer pattern of TiNPs Table 2. Bioactivity of TiNPs against certain bacteria Compound Banana Peels Extract (BPE) TiNPs 25% conc.</s>TiNPs 50% conc.</s>TiNPs 100% conc.</s> Pathogenic Microorganism Gram Positive Gram Negative Stapylococcus Steptococcus Staphylococcus Bacillus Escherecia Klebsiella spp.</s> Epidermidis Sp.</s> aureus coli spp. 6 27 16 18 16 12 18 15 21 13 5-10 week activity against bacteria, 10-15 Moderate activity, 15+ Over 15 consider to be strongly active. 2245 www.microbiologyjournal.orgJournal of Pure and Applied MicrobiologyHameed et al. J Pure Appl Microbiol, 13(4), 2241-2249 | December 2019 | https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.13.4.38lipopolysaccharide component which is not exist or found in Gram positive bacteria and this property enable the TiNPs to penetrate the cell membrane of Gram positive bacteria and cause its fatality, this results agreed with the results obtained by Adam and his coworkers22 and Shrevastava and his coworkers23. The most logical explanation proposed that the possible mechanisms involving the interaction between TiNPs with the biomolecules which propose that microbes have negative charge (represented by the membrane of the microbe) and the positive charge (represented by TiNPs), this “electromagnetic” attraction between the metal ion and the microbe membrane will leads to microbial oxidation and rapid death24.</s> Zhang and his coworkers suggested that positive ion in nanoparticals form a coordination bond with the thiol group (-SH) which is part of protein molecule which is part of bacteria membrane, this deactivation of protein will increase the permeability of the bacteria membrane leading to fast death25. Larvicidal effect of TiNPs Fig. 7 indicates the larvicidal analysis by which the larvae death was scored after 24 hrs, the results shows that there was a marked mortality recorded during the development of (Musca domistica) larvae depending upon the concentration of each dose. The highest mortality was observed for 1st stage followed by 2nd and 3rd larval stage respectively. While insignificant mortality observed in 1st larval stage vials treated with water and BPE (6.6%, 6.6%) as shown in Fig.</s>8. The mortality percentage is proportional to the concentration of the synthesized TiNPs which indicates that the essential role of concentration in larvicidal activity. Each test included a control group with three replicates for each concentration.</s> Fig. 7. Mortality percentage of house fly larvae treated with synthesized TiO2NPs Fig. 8. Phenotypic variation observed in A: 2nd larval stage, B: 3rd larval stage of Musca domistica treated with 100 mg/ml prepared TiNPs 2246 www.microbiologyjournal.orgHameed et al. J Pure Appl Microbiol, 13(4), 2241-2249 | December 2019 | https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.13.4.38Journal of Pure and Applied MicrobiologyThe results agreed with Sabat and his coworkers26.</s>After hatching from the egg, the larva starts feeding with TiNPs treated food, once it pass in larval gut, it interferes with the a certain process that leads to unusual phenotypes which end with neuronal defect, ending with larvae death.</s> Hassan and his coworkers27 reported that the possible mechanism behind the death of house fly is the dispersion of metal nanoparticles via oral route or through rupturing of the cuticle membrane, by this means the TiNPs enter into the cavity of insect body to affect the surviving the ability of generating the Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), these particles are causative agent for oxidative stress, which leads to eggs damage due to its toxic tension, then the egg are not able to proceed on its next developmental stages. This analogous mechanism was recorded by magnetite NPs which shows bioactivity against Drosophilla melanogaster28 and silver NPs bioactivity against Culex pipienes29.</s> In producing TiNPs, there several factors affecting its yield among them are temperature of the synthesis process, pH of the reaction, purity of the metal salt in addition to the extract itself, these factors play an effective role on the yield and characteristics of TiNPs, these factors was studied by Njagi and his coworkers30. In this study, the researchers used banana peels extract in a new green synthesis method to synthesized titanium nanoparticals, this method has not been carried before and it was found that TiNPs show bioactivity against bacteria which increase its future applications against many serious human pathogens. In addition, TiNPs shows good larvicidal applications against Musca domistica resulted. These results will open wide and new biomedical applications. 4. Banana peels were chosen in this research due to its composition (rich with pectin, cellulose, hemicelluloses…) in addition to its low cost.</s> 5. Due to the bioactivity of the novel TiNPs against bacteria and insects (house fly), the researchers expect a wide and various applications of green synthesized nanoparticles precisely against infectious bacteria, biomedical, and pharmaceutical applications ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank all the staff at Biology Department, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Iraq for their support and help to achieve this research. The authors declares that there is no CONFLICT OF INTEREST conflict of interest.</s> AUTHOR'S CONTRIBUTION All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.</s> FUNDING None.</s> DATA AVAILABILITY All datasets generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and/or the Supplementary Files.</s> ETHICS STATEMENT This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. 1. A novel, green, eco-friendly TiNPs was The researcher concludes the following CONCLUSION points: synthesized successfully.</s> 2. The synthesis procedure was rapid, simple, and considered as a new approach method to synthesize TiO2NPs. agricultural waste material (banana peels). 3. The synthesis was based on usingAdvances in Materials and Processing Technologies ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tmpt20 Characterisation of self cleaning banana fabrics using titanium dioxide nano sol for stain degradation Pratibha Malik, Deepshikha Sharma & Lalit Jajpura To cite this article: Pratibha Malik, Deepshikha Sharma & Lalit Jajpura (2023): Characterisation of self cleaning banana fabrics using titanium dioxide nano sol for stain degradation, Advances in Materials and Processing Technologies, DOI: 10.1080/2374068X.2023.2198790 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/2374068X.2023.2198790 Published online: 09 Apr 2023. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 32 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tmpt20 ADVANCES IN MATERIALS AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES https://doi.org/10.1080/2374068X.2023.2198790 Characterisation of self cleaning banana fabrics using titanium dioxide nano sol for stain degradation Pratibha Malik a, Deepshikha Sharmaa and Lalit Jajpurab aAmity School of Fashion Technology, Amity University, Noida, India; bDepartment of Textile Technology, National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India ARTICLE HISTORY Accepted 23 March 2023 KEYWORDS Nano sols; photocatalysis; anatase titanium dioxide; self-cleaning; banana fabric ABSTRACT The self-cleaning concept has drawn a lot of attention due to its unique characteristics and wide range of potential applications in a variety of sectors. In the present study, the photocatalytic proper- ties of TiO2 nanoparticles for achieving the self-cleaning ability on banana fabric were explored using sol–gel technology. Highly stable TiO2 nano sols were developed using a simple, rapid, and relatively low acid content process at low temperatures. Pad-dry- cure method was used to obtain a homogeneous coating of TiO2 nano sols on the surface of the banana fabric. The coated fabrics were characterised using techniques like Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, and UV–Vis Spectroscopy. After light irradiation, the photocatalytic activity was determined by stain degradation of different stains by analys- ing colour difference and K/S. Anatase TiO2 nanoparticles were formed in good concentration exhibiting photocatalytic activities shown by the photodegradation of Coffee and Rhodamine B stains on exposure to light. Overall, the proposed method can incorporate titanium dioxide functionalization of a new class of cellulosic-based materials, i.e. banana fabrics intended for self-cleaning applications, in a stable, rapid, cost-effective, and ecologically acceptable manner. 1. Introduction Over the past few years, nanotechnology has emerged as a cutting-edge field of science and technology. Numerous new prospects for textile coatings and finishes have emerged due to nanotechnologies. They can be utilised to increase the functionality of textiles or offer entirely new capabilities . Nanotechnology enables the creation of new, more intricate functionalities and enhancements to already-existing functions like durability without sacrificing the feel and texture of the fabric. This is particularly attributed to high surface energy and a big surface area-to-volume ratio of the nanoparticles, which also provide a better affinity for fabrics . The creation of novel functional textile materials has drawn the attention of researchers, and efforts to create fabrics with self-cleaning surfaces have been made [3,4]. Surfaces that naturally clean themselves can be CONTACT Pratibha Malik Technology, Amity University, Noida, India © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group pratibhamalik1991@gmail.com PhD Research Scholar, Amity School of Fashion 2 P. MALIK ET AL. hydrophobic or hydrophilic. The former, also referred to as the lotus effect, can be accomplished by changing the surface’s geometry or chemically [5–7]. Extreme water- repellent characteristics are displayed by superhydrophobic surfaces when water contact angles are greater than 150 degrees. Water droplets become spherical as a result, roll off the surface, and pick up dirt particles in the process . The second component of self- cleaning is based on the super-hydrophilic principle, a chemical surface modification that employs photocatalysts, when sensitised to UV light, the dirt/stain molecules undergo photocatalysis, which causes them to decompose into simpler species like CO2 and water . Much attention has been given to photo-catalysts as self-cleaning agents, especially for their full destruction or mineralisation of hazardous and non-biodegradable chemi- cals to carbon dioxide and inorganic elements. Bandgap energies in several semiconduc- tors are enough to catalyse various chemical reactions. These include ZnO, ZnS, Fe2O3, TiO2, WO3, and SrTiO3 [10–14]. Due to its inexpensive operational cost, exceptional chemical stability, adequate band gap, capacity to block UV light, lack of photo- corrosion, and non-toxicity, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the best photocatalyst [15–17].</s>There are three crystalline phases of TiO2: anatase, rutile, and brookite. Anatase TiO2 is the most widely used among them [18,19]. This can be attributed because titania having an energy gap of about 3.2 eV in anatase and 3.05 eV in rutile. The positive hole’s energy level in the anatase valency band, which is 210 mV lower than that of rutile, is thought to cause increased photocatalytic activity . Nano-TiO2 can be broken down into free- moving negatively charged electrons (e−) and positively charged holes (h+) under the catalysis of light, especially ultraviolet light. The final reaction creates highly chemically active hydroxyl-free radicals (OH.) and superoxide anion radicals (O2-), which can attack and decompose the organic contaminants . In addition, nano-TiO2 is added to textiles to boost their UV protection and has also been suggested to encourage the activity of antimicrobials [22–24]. In the past few decades, the sector of self-cleaning applications using TiO2 nanoparticles or thin-film technologies like nano sol has gained more and more attention. Recently, using sol–gel nano sol synthesis technology in changing fibrous materials and creating a modifying coating on the fibres has drawn more attention from researchers . The need for further innovative work is being driven by ongoing research into developing cheap, multifunctional nano-textiles that are ecologically safe, long-lasting, and self-cleaning. Several studies have reported self-cleaning coatings on conventional substrates like cotton, wool, silk, polyester, etc. [26–30]. Cotton, among all cellulosic fibres, is widely researched for self-cleaning because of its comfort, hygroscopic nature, and wide applications. Cellulosic textile materials have grown due to recent improve- ments in textile manufacturing techniques. The development of sustainable cellulosic textile materials falls under this category. Among many sustainable fibres, banana fibre is now seen as a sustainable alternative to cotton and silk due to its softness, suppleness, breathability, and natural sheen. So, it is essential to explore the concept of self-cleaning on these fibres as they have huge applications in a sustainable world. The current study aims to investigate the photocatalytic activities of TiO2 nano sols prepared by a low-temperature sol–gel process under ambient pressure on banana fabrics using a simple, direct, and relatively low acid content coating process for self-cleaning purposes. Highly aqueous sols were transformed into thin TiO2 coatings on banana fabrics using a conventional dip-pad-dry-cure procedure. Scanning electron microscopy ADVANCES IN MATERIALS AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES 3 (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to evaluate the banana samples. The stain degradation of the coated samples was tested against coffee and Rhodamine B dye stain, using K/S spectroscopy. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Materials The plain woven banana fabric used in the study was procured from HSPS Pvt.</s>Ltd. Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi. The non-coated banana fabric samples were used in the control experiments. Fabric Parameters are mentioned below (Table 1). Titanium-tetra-isopropoxide (TTIP) AR grade, procured from Sigma Aldrich, U.S.A., was taken as a precursor for making titanium dioxide nano sols.</s>Isopropanol was taken as a solvent for TTIP and was acquired from SRL, Delhi, India. Conc. Hydrochloric Acid (HCl, 35%) from Qualigens was used as a catalyst for the reaction. De-ionised water was used for the entire study. No additional purification was performed on any of the chemicals or solvents used in this study after they were purchased. The chemicals used in the experimentation process are listed in Table 2, along with the parameters. 2.2. Synthesis of nano sols Six millilitres of TTIP (precursor) was stirred with 5.9 ml of isopropanol (solvent) for 20 min at 500 rpm at room temperature. One millilitre of HCl was added dropwise to the above solution and again stirred for 5 min. It is essential to add the acid dropwise; otherwise, a solid gel will be formed. Subsequently, 100 ml of deionised (DI) water was added in one go and stirred for 4 h to obtain the titanium aqueous nano sol. Malvern Zetasizer ZS was used to characterise the nano sol for zeta potential and particle size analyser to analyse the dispersion stability and particle size formation in the nano sol. Table 1. Fabric parameters. Fabric Type Banana Fibre Content 100 % Banana Weave Plain EPI PPI 40 68 fibre Warp Count 20’s Weft Count 40’s Thickness Fabric Weight (mm) 0.26 (GSM) 100 Table 2. Chemicals used in the Preparation of Nano sol. Chemical TTIP (AR) Isopropanol HCl (35%) Sigma Aldrich SRL Qualigens Company Mol. Formula C12H28O4Ti C3H8O HCl Mol. Wt. (g/mol) 284.22 60.1 36.458 Density (g/ml) 0.96 0.7854 1.18 Role Precursor Solvent Catalyst 4 P. MALIK ET AL. Figure 1. Schematic representation of the process used for coating Banana Fabrics. 2.3. Preparation of samples 2.3.1. Pre-treatment of samples Scouring of the samples was carried out by treating with 1 gpl sodium carbonate and 3 gpl of non-ionic detergent at 70°C for 60 min, and samples were rinsed alternatively with warm water and then with cold water. Then the samples were dried at 110°C for 10 min. 2.3.2. Coating of samples Scoured samples were coated with prepared TiO2 nano sols by the dip-pad-dry-cure method, as shown in Figure 1. The fabrics were dipped in prepared TiO2 nano sols for 5 min and then pressed with a padding mangle (Innolab two-bowl) at 2.5 kg/cm2 pressure to attain a uniform coating on all fabrics. The wet pickup (80%) was calculated by weighing the fabric before and after coating. Then, the fabrics were neutralised by spraying an aqueous Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3) solution. Padded fabrics were dried at 75°C in a preheated oven for 7 min (Tempo TI-710 Series Stability Chamber, Tempo instruments). Curing was done at 120°C for 3 min. Samples were washed and dried. 2.4. Characterisation The morphological features of uncoated and TiO2 nano sol coated banana fabrics were analysed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Small pieces of untreated and coated banana fabrics were viewed at high magnification using SEM at a voltage of 10 kV and used secondary electron mode for the analysis. The chemical contents were examined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Quantax 200 (Bruker AXS, Karlsruhe, Germany). The functional groups of each sample were determined using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometer equipped with an attenuated total reflection (ATR) accessory (Shimadzu IR Spirit, Shimadzu Corporation, Japan), which was also utilised to analyse the chemical bonds present ADVANCES IN MATERIALS AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES 5 in the untreated and TiO2 nano sol coated banana fabrics. The FTIR-ATR spectra of the control fabric and TiO2 nano sol treated fabrics were found in the scanning range of 600–4000 cm−1 with 16 cm−1 resolution. The crystalline phase of the TiO2 nanoparticles was analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD, X’pert Pro, Panalytical Netherlands). The ultraviolet (UV) protection of the coated fabrics was evaluated by a UV – visible spectrophotometer (UV-3600 plus, Shimadzu Corporation, Japan). 2.5. Photocatalytic activity The photocatalytic efficiency of the fabric samples was investigated by stain degradation against coffee (6%, Nestle) and Rhodamine B (0.05 gpl) dye stains. For staining, the untreated and TiO2-coated samples were placed on a levelled surface, dipped in the above solutions, and placed on a flat surface, allowing absorption for 2 min. The samples were exposed to a UV lamp with an output of 8 Watts and a wavelength of 350 nm for 6 h in order to evaluate the stain degradation by UV radiation. Premier colour scan SS 5100A Spectrophotometer using a D65 illuminant and 10° standard observer was used to measure the photodegradation of stains by comparing the samples before and after exposure. The colour difference, ΔE, of the stained samples after irradiation and before irradiation can be determined by Eq. (1); ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi q 2 Lt  L0 ð Þ þ at  a0 2 Þ þ bt  b0 ð 2 Þ ð ΔE ¼ (1) Where ‘L0 and Lt refer to the lightness before and after t hours of irradiation, respectively.</s>at and a0 refers to the colour position between red and green in the three-dimensional colour space after t hours of irradiation and before irradiation, respectively. The colour position between yellow and blue after “t” hours of irradiation and before irradiation is denoted by bt and b0, respectively’. A large value of ΔE implied a significant colour difference before and after irradiation. For measuring K/S values, every fabric was subjected to three separate measurements of reflectance at intervals of 10 nm, with wavelengths ranging from 400 to 700 nm.</s>Kubelka – Munk equation was used to obtain K/S values (Equation 2).</s> K S ¼ ð 1  R 2R 2 Þ (2) Where ‘K is the absorption coefficient of the stain, S is the scattering coefficient of the stained sample, and R is the reflectance of the stained sample. The value of K/S is linearly related to the colour concentration in the sample’. Photographic images were also recorded before and after light exposure to see the visual difference. 2.6. Physical testing The breaking strength of untreated and TiO2-coated fabrics was measured to study the effect of nano sol coating on the banana fabrics (ASTM D5034–95). Also, the bending rigidity of the control and coated fabric was obtained by a Stiffness tester (Paramount Instruments) according to ASTM D1388. 6 P. MALIK ET AL. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Characterisation of nano sols The particle size analysis (PSA) of obtained sol is depicted in Figure 2; particle size was found in the range of 10–40 nm. The TiO2 nano sols showed a fine size distribution and mean particle size of 14 nm, indicating that the TiO2 nanoparticles were evenly distributed throughout the synthesised nano sol. The metallic precursor hydrolysed in the presence of acid during the sol synthesis. Additionally, the con- densation of several hydroxyl sites generates nanoparticles by forming Ti-O-Ti bridges. The hydroxyl sites at the ends of these nanoparticles could further condense to form a sol network. The dispersion stability of the nano sol was assessed by the zeta potential of the sol, which was found to be +32 mV, which dictates the stable range of synthesised nano sol. 3.2. Characterisation for coated and uncoated banana fabrics 3.2.1. SEM analysis The surface morphologies of all TiO2 nano sol coated and untreated samples were studied using Scanning Electron Microscope. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of banana untreated, TiO2-treated banana fabrics are given in Figure 3. The morphological structure of the Banana control sample at different magnifications is shown in Figure 3 (a, b, and c). It depicts spherical surface structures that indicate the attachment of TiO2 nanoparticles to the substrate on TiO2 nano sol coated fabrics, as shown in Figure 3 (d, e, and f). Figure 2. Average PSA curve for prepared Nano sol. ADVANCES IN MATERIALS AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES 7 Figure 3. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for Banana untreated and TiO2 nano sol coated Banana fabric samples (a) (b) (c) Banana untreated fabric at 2, 10, and 20 µm, (d) (e) (f) TiO2 nano sol coated Banana fabric at 2, 10 and 20 µm. 3.2.2. EDS Analysis Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used to analyse the compositional elements of the banana samples, as shown in Figure 4. Composition of Carbon (C) and Oxygen (O) shown in Figure 4(a) indicates the presence of these elements in the untreated banana sample which may come due to the cellulosic nature of the banana fibre. Figure 4(b) shows titanium (Ti) and oxygen (O) composition, which confirms the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles on the surface of the coated Banana sample. The mapping of Carbon (C), Oxygen (O), and Titanium (Ti) particles on TiO2 nano sol coated fabrics is indicated in Figure 5.The quantified measurement of all the elements present on the untreated and coated fabrics is also shown in Table 3, which reveals that around 6% Titanium was present in the coated samples. This can demonstrate the effective distribution of 8 P. MALIK ET AL. Figure 4. Energy dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS): (a) EDS for untreated Banana fabric, (b) EDS for TiO2 nano sol coated Banana fabric. . Figure 5. EDS mapping of TiO2 nano sol coated Banana fabrics (a) map of the C element, (b) map of the O element, (c) map of the Ti element. Table 3. Elemental analysis of untreated and TiO2 nano sol coated banana fabrics. Element O K C K Ti K Total 57.42 36.58 6.00 100 TiO2 coated (wt%) Untreated (wt%) 60.25 39.75 00 100 nanoparticles on the fabric’s surface. The excellent distribution of titanium is vividly shown on the surface of the banana fabric. 3.2.3. FTIR The FTIR-ATR spectra of the banana untreated and TiO2 nano sol coated fabrics is given in Figure 6. The characteristic peaks of cellulose were exhibited in both banana untreated and coated fabric at around 3309 cm−1 which is associated with the hydroxyl groups (– OH) of cellulose, 2880 cm−1 related to C – H stretching vibrations of the cellulosic chains ADVANCES IN MATERIALS AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES 9 Figure 6. FTIR spectra of untreated and TiO2 nano sol coated banana fabrics. in banana fabrics, 1361 cm−1 attributed to C – O, C – H bending vibrations, 1635 cm−1 linked with bending vibration of O-H and 1017 cm−1 associated with C – O, O – H stretching vibrations of the polysaccharides . The attachment of TiO2 to the (−OH) group of the cellulosic chains on the surface of the banana fabric is indicated by the reduction in the intensity of the absorption peaks of coated fabrics at 3309 cm−1 and 1017 cm−1. The Ti-O stretching band is attributed to the sharp peak at 667 cm−1, which is the distinctive peak of TiO2. Figure 7. UV-Vis spectra of untreated and TiO2 coated banana fabrics. 4000350030002500200015001000500)T%(ecnattimsnarTWavenumber (cm-1)TiO2 Coated Banana Untreated Banana10 P. MALIK ET AL. Figure 8. X-Ray diffraction pattern of the untreated and TiO2 coated banana fabric. 3.2.4. UV-Vis spectroscopy UV-Vis spectroscopy was initially used to examine the light-absorbance characteristics of the untreated and coated banana fabrics. The results of the analysis are shown in Figure 7; It can be clearly illustrated that both fabrics absorb some amount of UV light. But, it was demonstrated that fabrics with TiO2 coatings had higher absorption values than untreated fabrics. The untreated banana fabrics have weak absorption intensities across the UV range. TiO2 typically absorbs light in the UV region, which can be attributed to its inherent band gap absorption caused by the transition of electrons from the valence band to the conduction band. 3.2.5. XRD analysis The crystalline phase of titania nanoparticles deposited onto the banana fabrics after coating was determined by XRD analysis. The obtained XRD graphs of untreated and TiO2-coated fabrics are presented in Figure 8. While untreated fabric shows no anatase- associated peaks, the diffraction peaks observed at 2θ is equal to 25.03°, and 38.0° and 49.13° were due to the anatase phase which agrees with the JCPDS card no. 21–1272 (anatase TiO2) and XRD patterns found in other literature for nanoscale TiO2 [32,33].</s>Additionally, we can see from the XRD pattern that anatase and rutile TiO2 exhibit peak interactions. As anatase TiO2 transfers electrons more quickly than rutile TiO2, it has a better photoelectric conversion efficiency. For particular ratios, the photocatalytic activity of the combination of these two is considerably higher .</s> 3.3. Self-cleaning efficiency The photographic images before and after irradiation by UV light (shown in Figure 9). The decolourisation of untreated and TiO2-coated fabrics showed different results. The colour changed significantly less even after being exposed ADVANCES IN MATERIALS AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES 11 Figure 9. Photodegradation results of Coffee and Rhodamine B dye on untreated and TiO2-coated Banana fabric samples before and after exposure to UV light. Table 4. Self-cleaning ability of untreated and TiO2 Coated Banana fabrics stained by Coffee and RhodamineB Dye. Sample Untreated banana Fabric TiO2 nano sol coated Banana Untreated banana Fabric TiO2 nano sol coated Banana fabric fabric Stain Coffee Coffee ΔE 1.6 25.36 Δl 1.12 18.85 Δa 0.31 Δb −1.11 −6.78 −15.56 RhodamineB 10.26 1.59 RhodamineB 69.45 −27.38 −37.45 1.36 10.04 51.71 (K/S) unexposed 0.98 2.37 3.9 3.77 (K/S) exposed 0.8 0.284 2.98 0.266 % decrease in K/S 11.11 88.18 25.64 92.94 to UV light for 6 h in untreated fabrics. The TiO2- coated fabric gradually faded, and the colour almost disappeared after 6 h of light exposure. These findings demonstrate that pure banana substrates have no decomposition activity, in con- trast to TiO2 sol coatings on banana fabrics that can efficiently remove coffee and RhodamineB colour stains. For quantitative measurement of self-cleaning ability K/S values, color difference ΔE, and difference in color coordinates Δl, Δa, Δb between irradiated and unexposed samples was measured as given in Table 4.</s>Higher values of ΔE for TiO2-coated fabrics were found indicating that the self- cleaning properties were outstanding. Percentage decrease in K/S values of both stains, without exposure and after exposure to light was recorded. Almost com- plete degradation of coffee and dye stains is proven by reduction in K/s value of treated samples on exposure to light for specified duration. Stain Stain Sample Sample Before light Before light exposure exposure After light After light exposure exposure Coffee Coffee Untreated Untreated Banana Banana Fabric Fabric TiOTiO2 2 Coated Coated Banana Banana Fabric Fabric Rhodamine B Rhodamine B Untreated Untreated Banana Banana Fabric Fabric TiOTiO2 2 Coated Coated Banana Banana Fabric Fabric 12 P. MALIK ET AL. Table 5. Mechanical properties of untreated and coated banana fabrics. Breaking Strength (Kg) Bending length (cm) Bending rigidity (mg.cm) Sample Untreated banana Fabric TiO2 nano sol coated Banana fabric Warp way Weft way Warp way Weft way Warp way Weft way 20.3 19.8 11.3 10.8 2.95 3.1 2.4 2.5 25.16 29.19 13.54 15.31 3.4. Physical properties Fabric stiffness and breaking strength measurements, as shown in Table 5, were made to evaluate the impact of TiO2 treatment on the mechanical characteristics of the banana textiles. A slight decrease in the tensile strength of the coated fabrics was found, which may be due to the presence of some acid in the prepared nano sol. A prerequisite for the fabric handle is assessing bending length and rigidity. The ability of the fabric to withstand bending deformation increases with increasing bending rigidity, which also increases the fabric’s stiffness. Table 5 also shows that adding TiO2 somewhat increased bending rigidity in the warp and weft orientations which can be attributed due to presence of some acid content in coating. 4. Conclusions The photocatalytic self-cleaning activity of Banana fabric coated with highly stable synthesised nano sols and their characterisations were studied. The following can be concluded in view of the results of the study and discussions that have been conducted: ● Synthesised nano sols were found to be highly stable, with an average particle size of 14 nm and highly positive zeta potential values. ● Samples characterisation by SEM indicated the deposition of nanoparticles with a good amount of Ti on the surface of coated fabrics. The elemental analysis results of the fabric with EDS reveal that 6% Ti content is generated on banana fabrics. TiO2 characteristic peaks were found in the FTIR plot. Peaks at different sites indicated by the XRD pattern confirm the formation of Anatase TiO2. ● The results of UV-Vis showed that untreated fabrics absorb relatively lesser radia- tion than coated ones, which is related to the radiation absorption by TiO2 coating. ● The coated banana fabrics had good photocatalytic activity against coffee and Rhodamine B stains in self-cleaning experiments, with higher photodegradation of both stains being detected with increasing irradiation time. ● The results of mechanical properties revealed that coating of TiO2 nano sol on fabric slightly decreases and increases banana fabric’s breaking strength and stiffness, respectively. The changes found are not significantly affecting the fabric properties.</s>Hence, the coating can be used without considerable changes in the fabric properties. ADVANCES IN MATERIALS AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES 13 Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. ORCID Pratibha Malik http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9184-4329IRAQI JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Vol. 18, No. 4, October-December 2022, pp. 27-30 Using Banana Peels for Green Synthesis of Mixed-Phase Titanium Dioxide Nanopowders In this work, titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanopowders were synthesized from the titanium isopropoxide and banana peels by the solvothermal method. The synthesized nanopowder was polycrystalline and containing both anatase and rutile phases of TiO2, with minimum nanoparticle size of 25.41, and good structural purity, which was supported by the spectroscopic measurements. The proposed method can be described as low-cost, reliable and simple method to synthesize TiO2 nanopowders for practical applications that require mass quantities of this material with sufficiently good characteristics.</s> Keywords: Titanium dioxide; Nanoparticles; Solvothermal method; Green synthesis Received: 01 September 2022; Revised: 25 October 2022; Accepted: 01 November 2022 Zahraa H. Zaidan1 Kasim H. Mahmood1 Oday A. Hammadi2 1 Department of Physics, College of Education for Pure Sciences, Tikrit University, Tikrit, IRAQ 2 Department of Physics, College of Education, Al-Iraqia University, Baghdad, IRAQ 1. Introduction The needs for antibacterial and antifungal nanopowders, such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) in most recent biological, medical and environmental applications, the methods and techniques to prepare and synthesize such nanopowders have been drastically varied and developed. Some methods and techniques can exceptionally produce highly-pure nanopowders either using the top-down or bottom-up approaches [1,2]. However, the requirements of such methods and techniques are relatively costive and complex . Furthermore, the quantities of the produced nanopowders are very little to be used for mass treatment applications such as antibacterial and antifungal processes, pigments and paintings, hydrophobic and smart windows [4-7]. Therefore, alternative methods and techniques those can produce larger quantities of nanopowders are explored, employed, developed and optimized. Amongst, the solvothermal method is one of the most economical and simplest .</s> route included in to prepare The solvothermal method can be described as an effective titanium dioxide nanopowders with reasonably good control of their shape, size, distribution and crystallinity . Such control is carried out throughout the experimental parameters this method, mainly, properties of solvent and precursor of titanium, addition of surfactants, solution and/or reaction temperatures, and reaction time [9,10]. Using organic solvents, such as ethanol, in the solvothermal method most likely leads to produce titanium dioxide nanopowders without foreign anions because such organic solvents are characterized by low relative permittivity and lack to ionic species . On the other hand, the titanium dioxide nanopowders produced by the solvothermal method, just like all methods and techniques in solutions, are most likely consisting of anatase and rutile phases of titanium dioxide . Obviously, the containing reactions chemical structural phase that initially forms during the preparation of titanium dioxide is the anatase, which is metastable phase. Due to thermal effects, the anatase phase converts into rutile phase, which is stable. Consequently, the titanium dioxide sample is described as mixed-phase (anatase/rutile) [12,13]. In pure synthetic titanium dioxide, the anatase to rutile phase transition usually occurs at temperature range of 600-700 °C. This transition temperature can be altered by various methods, including modifying the precursor or by adding dopant or modifier to the TiO2 sample . Despite that the environment, solution and reaction temperatures do not exceed 100 °C, the transition may occur locally as the TiO2 particles are grown at the nanoscale . As the intended dioxide nanopowders are not highly sensitive to the structural phase of these nanopowders, a low-cost, reliable, reasonably simple method such as solvothermal method is highly preferred .</s> applications titanium of In this work, mixed-phase titanium dioxide nanopowders were synthesized by a green route using titanium isopropoxide as a precursor and banana peels. The characteristics of the synthesized nanopowders were introduced.</s> 2. Experimental Work Fresh banana fingers from the local market were used to obtain the peels before wilt. These peels were cut into small pieces, washed three times with distilled water to remove any contaminants and dirt, and dried with drying paper. Then, 75 g of the dried peels were put in a beaker containing 150 mL of distilled water. The mixture was heated up to boiling temperature (100 °C) for 20 min. Then, the boiled mixture was filtered twice using Whatman No. 1 filter paper. The extracted solution was kept in the freezer at (≤4 °C).</s> An aqueous solution was prepared by solving 100 mg of titanium isoprpoxide (C12H28O4Ti) in 1 mL of ISSN 1813 – 2065 © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRINTED IN IRAQ 27 IRAQI JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Vol. 18, No. 4, October-December 2022, pp. 27-30 distilled water. The extracted solution of banana peels was taken out from the freezer and heated up to 60 °C for 10 min. A 50 mL of the extracted solution was drawn and put in a beaker on a magnetic hot plate stirrer. Then, 5 mL of the aqueous solution of C12H28O4Ti was taken and added to the 50 mL of extracted solution as drops while keeping stirring for one hour. The mixture was filtered using Whatman No. 1 filter paper to separate the formed nanopowder.</s>These filtered nanopowder were washed twice with distilled water to remove any residuals from the previous mixing process and reaction step. The separated nanopowder was dried by heating up to 100 °C for 24 hours and then kept in sealed container to be characterized and then used in the intended applications.</s> The structural characteristics of the synthesized nanopowders were determined by x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns using a Bruker D2 PHASER XRD system (Cu-Kα x-ray tube with λ=1.54056Å), the surface morphology was determined by an Inspect F50 field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) using , the elemental constitution was determined by energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX), the formation of molecular bonds and their vibrations were determined by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy using a SHIMADZU FTIR-8400S instrument, and the absorption spectra were recorded using a K-MAC SpectraAcademy SV- 2100 spectrophotometer in the range of 300-800 nm as the synthesized nanopowder was immersed in a transparent viscous host as a reference.</s> 3. Results and Discussion Figure (1) shows the XRD pattern of the TiO2 nanopowder synthesized in this work. Obviously, 14 peaks are seen, which belong all to the TiO2; 8 of them for anatase (A) phase and 6 for rutile (R) phase.</s>This is why the TiO2 nanopowder referred to as mixed-phase and polycrystalline . The formation of rutile phase cannot be avoided even much more care formation of nanopowder as heating steps are necessarily required.</s>The crystallite size (D) was determined for all peaks, as shown in table (1), by Scherrer’s equation as : 0.9𝜆 𝐷 = is considered during the (1) 𝛽𝑐𝑜𝑠𝜃 where λ is the wavelength of x-rays (1.54Å), 0.9 is a constant, β is the full width at half-maximum (FWHM), which was given by the software of the XRD instrument Figure (2) shows the FE-SEM image of the TiO2 nanopowder synthesized in this work. It is clear that the TiO2 nanoparticles in the nanopowder sample have different sizes with a minimum size of 25.41 nm, however, the differences are not high enough to consider this sample is inhomogeneous. As well, aggregation is apparent, which is unavoidable in any preparation method or includes technique that formation processes based on thermally-activated chemical reactions .</s> Fig. (1) XRD pattern of synthesized TiO2 nanopowder Table (1) Determination of crystallite size for the synthesized mixed-phase TiO2 nanopowder Peak no.</s> 2θ (deg) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 25.44 27.6 36.24 37.92 41.36 44.16 48.24 54.04 54.48 55.24 56.76 62.88 69.12 75.12 D (nm) 13.227 14.722 14.770 15.388 13.537 11.686 14.765 15.858 14.780 15.944 10.482 15.298 17.501 20.497 Phase A R R A R R A A R A R A A A (hkl) (101) (110) (101) (004) (111) (210) (200) (105) (211) (211) (220) (118) (116) (125) Fig. (2) FE-SEM image of synthesized TiO2 nanopowder Figure (3) shows the EDX results of the TiO2 nanopowder synthesized in this work. The color mapping images (Fig. 3a) show that the volume density of Ti atoms is higher than that of O, which is confirmed by the elemental weight analysis (73.1% Ti vs. 26.8% O). This may be attributed to the 28 IRAQI SOCIETY FOR ALTERNATIVE AND RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES AND TECHNIQUES difference in atomic radius between titanium and oxygen. On the other hand, the atomic percentages of both elements (Ti and O) are comparable (46% and 54%, respectively). These results show that the synthesized nanopowder certainly contains non- stoichiometric TiO2 compound. However, the intended uses of the synthesized nanopowders do not critically need for stoichiometric compound.</s> IRAQI JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Vol. 18, No. 4, October-December 2022, pp. 27-30 dense medium to record its absorption spectrum after been referenced to the absorption spectrum of the hosting medium. Figure (5) shows the UV-visible spectrum of the synthesized TiO2 nanopowder in the spectral range of 300-800 nm.</s> (a) (b) Element Atomic % Atomic % Error Weight % Weight % Error 2.90 0.21 26.8 73.1 O Ti 54.0 46.0 1.55 0.35 Fig. (3) EDX result of synthesized TiO2 nanopowder (a) color map distribution, (b) EDX spectrum and elemental analysis table Figure (4) shows the FTIR spectrum of the TiO2 nanopowder synthesized in this work. There are three distinct peaks centered at 409, 447 and 667 cm-1 belonging to the vibrations of the TiO2 molecules in the TiO2 lattice; bending, asymmetric and symmetric modes, respectively . As well, two bands at 1620 and 3450 cm-1 are clearly seen and they are attributed to the vibration modes of O-H bond. The two possible sources for the OH molecules are (1) the aqueous solution included in the synthesis route, and (2) adsorption of water molecules from the environment when the synthesized sample is exposed to the atmosphere [21,22].</s> Since the antibacterial and antifungal activity of TiO2 nanopowder depends on its absorption characteristics, then the assessment of the synthesized nanopowder can be done by recording the absorption spectrum of the synthesized nanopowder should be hosted in a less- this nanopowder. However, Fig. (4) FTIR spectrum of synthesized TiO2 nanopowder e c n a b r o s b A 4 3 2 1 0 300 400 500 600 Wavelength (nm) 700 800 Fig. (4) UV-visible spectrum of synthesized TiO2 nanopowder is a characteristic of TiO2 as It is clear that the sample exhibits high absorption in the UV region (<400nm) and very low absorption in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions. Such behavior its photocatalytic activity is induced by the absorption of UV radiation. Therefore, the synthesized nanopowder can be successfully and safely used for antibacterial and antifungal purposes due to the synergetic effect exhibited by the TiO2 nanostructures containing both anatase and rutile phases [23,24].</s> 4. Conclusion In concluding remarks, mixed-phase TiO2 nanopowder was synthesized by solvothermal method using banana peels and titanium isopropoxide as titanium precursor. The structural characteristics have confirmed that the synthesized nanopowder is polycrystalline and containing both anatase and rutile phases. A minimum nanoparticle size of 25.41 nm was observed. Also, the synthesized nanopowder showed reasonable structural purity as no other ISSN 1813 – 2065 © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRINTED IN IRAQ 29 IRAQI JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Vol. 18, No. 4, October-December 2022, pp. 27-30 elements other than Ti and O were detected in the final sample. Spectroscopic characteristics of the synthesized nanopowder confirmed that it can be successfully used for practical applications based on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanomaterial. The proposed method can be described as low-cost, reliable and simple enough to provide the practical applications requiring mass quantities of TiO2 nanopowders.</s>Elastic properties evaluation of banana-hemp fiber-based hybrid composite with nano-titanium oxide filler: Analytical and Simulation Study Tanvi Saxenaa and V.K. Chawlaa* aDepartment of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women, India A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Received 10 March 2023 Accepted 4 July 2023 Available online 4 July 2023 Keywords: Banana fiber Elastic properties Hemp fiber Hybrid composite Nano-titanium oxide filler In recent years, nano-filler-based hybrid composites have gained significant attention from the research community; The nano-filler-based hybrid composites can have potential applications in numerous sectors. Nano-fillers are bringing a leading development in material science and natural fibers-based composites. The present study considers the impact of various weight percentages of nano-titanium oxide (NTiO2) fillers (2%, 4%, and 6%) on the elastic features of novel hybridized banana-hemp fiber-reinforced epoxy composites. The proposed composite is analyzed for its elastic properties like longitudinal and transverse elastic modulus, axial Poisson's ratio, and axial shear modulus using homogenized micromechanical models, namely, Mori-Tanaka (M-T) model, Generalized self-consistent (G-SC) model and Modified Halpin-Tsai (M-HTS) model. The composite is modeled using one layer of banana fiber, one layer of NTiO2 and epoxy, and one layer of hemp fiber. All three layers of the composite are arranged in the sequence of banana fiber at 450, a layer of NTiO2 and epoxy at 00, and hemp fiber at 450. The proposed composite's vector sum deformation and strength are examined by employing the ANSYS APDL application. The results obtained in this study are compared with the experimental work mentioned in the literature. The composite reinforced with six weight% NTiO2 has the highest mechanical strength, and the modified Halpin-Tsai (M-HTS) model is the most effective in calculating the elastic features of the proposed composite. In addition to the above, the hybridization effect for the proposed composite is also estimated to analyze the tensile failure strain of banana and hemp fiber in the proposed hybrid composite structure.</s> © 2024 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.</s> Engineering Solid Mechanics 12 (2024) 65-80 Contents lists available at GrowingScience Engineering Solid Mechanics homepage: www.GrowingScience.com/esm The volume fraction of fiber, matrix, and nano-titanium oxide.</s> / / / / / / CO Abbreviations V fib max NTiO 2 W ρ fib max NTiO 2 ρ HEFW / BAFW / ρ / HEF ρ / BAF BAFV / HEFV LOE Longitudinal elastic modulus of the composite.</s>TRAE Transverse elastic modulus of the composite.</s>E 1 Weight% of fiber, matrix, and nano-titanium oxide.</s>fib max NTiO 2 The density of fiber, matrix, and nano-titanium oxide.</s> The density of the composite.</s>EPOW / ρ / EPO / EPOV / Longitudinal elastic modulus of fiber and matrix.</s> fib max / 2 2 NTiOW Weight% of banana fiber, hemp fiber, epoxy, and nano-titanium oxide. ρ Density of banana fiber, hemp fiber, epoxy, and nano-titanium oxide.</s>NTiO NTiOV 2 Volume fraction of banana fiber, hemp fiber, epoxy, and nano-titanium oxide.</s> * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: vivekchawla@igdtuw.ac.in (V.K. Chawla) ISSN 2291-8752 (Online) - ISSN 2291-8744 (Print) © 2024 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.</s>doi: 10.5267/j.esm.2023.7.001  66 23 / max 12 12 / fib max fib max / 2 2 2 2 2 3,ENTiO 2 32,ENTiO 2 fibK 23 / 32,ENTiO 2 υ= 31 fib E= fib 33 G= fib max 13 / Bulk modulus of fiber and matrix.</s> In-plane shear modulus of fiber and matrix.</s> Out-of-plane shear modulus of fiber.</s> In-plane Poisson's ratio of fiber and matrix.</s> Elastic modulus of nano-titanium oxide in an axial direction. Out-of-plane Poisson's ratio of nano-titanium oxide.</s> Transverse elastic modulus of fiber.</s>fib max In-plane shear modulus of nano-titanium oxide.</s> In-plane Poisson's ratio of nano-titanium oxide.</s> E= Elastic modulus of nano-titanium oxide in the transverse direction. G= υ= E 22 G 12 fibG 23 υ / 12 fibυ Out-of-plane Poisson's ratio of fiber fib maxρ The density of fiber and matrix.</s>23K 2'Eξ 2'Eη 'Gξ Immeasurable parameters.</s>'Gη AXυ Axial Poisson's Ratio AXG Axial Shear Modulus E 1,ENTiO E 2,ENTiO G 12,ENTiO υ 12,ENTiO 13,ENTiOυ 1. Introduction Natural fiber blended green hybrid composites are being immensely utilized nowadays because of their tremendous features like renewability, biodegradability, low weight, and environmental aspects (Pol et al., 2022; Sadjadi, 2021; Tekletsadik, 2023). Banana fiber is a leaf fiber, and hemp fiber is a bast fiber. Both are natural fibers and find countless applications in the automobile and aerospace sectors. As mentioned above, the fibers are readily available, highly rigid, and have fire-defiant characteristics. Among natural fibers, banana fiber is found to be sustainable for increasing the mechanical properties of resins (Saxena & Chawla, 2021, 2022a). For sustainable development, green technologies are gaining the attention of researchers globally (Singh & Angra, 2018; Gupta et al., 2022; Chawla et al., 2021a; Chawla et al., 2023; Sadjadi & Ghaderi, 2023). Polymer matrix reinforced natural fiber composites have magnificent mechanical and chemical features like high strength and modulus, superior fatigue, corrosion, and abrasion resistance (Saxena & Chawla, 2022b; Parashar & Chawla, 2023). These composites are suitable alternatives to aircraft, warships, buildings, and electrical and electronic items in numerous applications. Sapaun et al. (2006) fabricated three composite samples using banana fiber. The authors prepared the samples for their proposed composite with different configurations, and maximum stress, Young's modulus, and maximum deformation under various load conditions are evaluated (Sapaun et al., 2006). Hemp fiber has commendable binding characteristics, improving tensile strength and stiffness in acrid surroundings (Wang, 2002; Wang et al., 2001; Parashar & Chawla, 2021, 2022). Kobyashi et al. (2014) studied the characteristics and manufacturing of hemp fiber-based goods composites using the micro braiding process. They discovered that hemp fiber could be a suitable binder for goods composites.</s>Banana fiber-reinforced composites have better tensile features and less deviation than flax fiber-reinforced composites (Kobyashi et al., 2014). Also, banana and hemp fiber blended composites carry added bending and impact strength in contrast to hemp and glass fiber blended polymer composites (Li et al., 2006).</s> Different configurations of polymer matrix and nanoparticles have been studied in the last few years. The incorporation of small quantity of nano-filler has been found to significantly enhance the substantial properties of polymer matrices. The critical parameters that influence the characteristics of polymer blended composites are shape, size, content, and amount of agglomeration of the filler (Kumar et al., 2020a; Bhatia et al., 2021; Saxena et al., 2021). Nanoparticles also have distinctive characteristics like electrical, photonic, and magnetism which develop limitless possibilities for fast technological use (Yadav et al., 2022; Chawla et al., 2021b). Faghidian, (2021) proposed a modified theory of elasticity to provide a practical approach to the nanoscopic study of class variables. Particle polymer composites comprise nanoparticles of different varieties and shapes distributed randomly in matrix structures. The addition of nano-silicon dioxide increased mechanical properties and breakage resilience with increasing wt% due to the development of void deformations in the matrix, and delamination of particle-matrix (Mahesha et al., 2022). Titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles are gaining more popularity today (Raghvendra  T. Saxena and V.K. Chawla / Engineering Solid Mechanics 12 (2024) 67 et al., 2015; Perreault et al., 2015). They are becoming popular due to their peculiar characteristics and potential applications in perfumes and cosmetics (Mahesha et al., 2022). Polymer nanocomposites reinforced with TiO2 nanoparticles and epoxy resin is processed ultrasonically, and mechanical and permeable features of the final composites are compared to the nanocomposites and the epoxy matrix, and the neat matrix (Seshanandan et al., 2016). It is found that nanocomposites containing TiO2 nanoparticles at low weight% loading showed an increment in abrasion resistance in contrast to the neat matrix (Seshanandan et al., 2016).</s>The scholarly articles show that the composite material developed with banana fiber and hemp fiber blended with TiO2 nanoparticles and epoxy resin had never been explored earlier for its elastic and mechanical properties. Additionally, the hybridization effect for the proposed composite has never been calculated before by any researcher. Therefore, to bridge the above-mentioned research gap, in this paper following research problems are addressed: • A novel composite of banana and hemp fiber reinforced with different weight percentages of TiO2 nanoparticle and epoxy resin bearing a transverse load of 250 KN (in -z-direction) is designed in ANSYS APDL.</s> • The elastic and mechanical features of the newly proposed composite are evaluated and analyzed using Mori-Tanaka, a generalized self-consistent model, and modified Halpin-Tsai models for different volume fractions of banana fiber, hemp fiber, TiO2 nanoparticles, and epoxy matrix.</s> • The strength and deformation of the proposed composite blended with 2%, 4%, and 6% of NTiO2 particles and 61%, 59%, and 57% of epoxy resin are analyzed at various orientation angles by using ANSYS APDL application • The hybridization effect for the composite is also calculated to examine the tensile failure strain characteristics of banana and hemp fiber in the proposed hybrid composite material.</s> • The tensile and shear stress results for the proposed composite obtained from simulation results are compared with the experimental results (Mahesha et al., 2022). In this paper, Mori-Tanaka (M-T), generalized self-consistent model, and modified Halpin-Tsai models (Mod. H-T) are used to examine the impact of incorporating the TiO2 nanoparticles on the elastic features of the banana fiber and hemp fiber blended with epoxy composites. Besides efficiency and mechanical equations for the elastic features, the principal benefit of this paper is the hybridization effect and incorporation of different weight percentages of TiO2 nanoparticles at different orientations of fibers. The prediction of the elastic properties is justified by validating it with the laboratory results provided in the literature. Additionally, the impact of the volume fraction of banana and hemp fibers with varying wt. % of TiO2 nanoparticles and epoxy resin on the elastic properties are also examined.</s> 2. Modeling of Proposed Bio-Composite In this section, the layers of banana fiber, hemp fiber, and layers of TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed in the epoxy resin are arranged to form a composite sandwich structure. The average particle size of nano TiO2 is 50 nm (Seshanandan et al., 2016).</s>If nanoparticles have an anisotropic configuration, their direction should be considered in determining the material properties (Yung et al., 2006; Saxena & Tomar, 2019; Parashar & Tomar, 2019). The proposed composite is designed using semi- empirical and homogenization models by changing the weight percentage of TiO2 nanoparticles and epoxy resin while the percent weight of banana fiber and hemp fiber is kept fixed, as given in Table 1. Table 1. Weight percentages of fibers, matrix, and nano-TiO2 (Mahesha et al., 2022).</s>Sequence I II III Banana fiber (%) Hemp fiber (%) 30 30 30 7 7 7 Epoxy (%) 61 59 57 Nano-TiO2 (%) 2 4 6 The elastic features of banana fiber, hemp fiber, epoxy, and nano-TiO2 are shown in Table 2. Table 2. Elastic features of banana, hemp fiber, epoxy resin, and NTiO2 Features Banana fiber (Dixit & Padhee, 2019) 3.48 Hemp fiber (Seshanandan, 2016) 70 / / fib fib max fib max (GPa) E= fib 33 G= 13 (GPa) υ= 31 E 1 E 22 G 12 fibG 23 υ / 12 fibυ 23 fib maxρ (kg/m3) / fib max (GPa) / fib max (GPa) fib max / --- 4 --- 0.28 --- 1350 --- 4 --- 0.36 --- 860 Epoxy (Dixit & Padhee, 2019) 35 --- 0.32 --- 0.35 --- 1270 2 = 244 Nano-TiO2 ( Seshanandan, 2016) NTiOE --- NTiOG --- NTiOυ = 0.27 --- = 95 2 2 4230 68 The fibers, matrix, and filler volume fractions are evaluated using the following equations (DeArmitt, 2011) and are given in Table 3.</s> Banana fiber (BAF) Table 3. Evaluated volume fractions of fibers, matrix, and nano-TiO2 Sequence A B C BAFV 0.06 0.06 0.06 HEFV 0.39 0.39 0.4 Hemp fiber (HEF) Epoxy EPOV 0.54 0.53 0.52 where Nano-TiO2 (NTiO2) NTiOV 5.834×10-3 2 0.01 0.02 V fib max NTO / / = fib max NTiO 2 / / × ρ CO W ρ ρ CO = W BAF ρ BAF + / / fib max NTiO 2 1 W + EPO ρ EPO W HEF ρ HEF + W NTiO 2 ρ NTiO 2 (1) (2) 3. Homogenized Models Homogenized models are based on analytical equations to calculate the constituent features of the composite structure, such as the constituent's composition, properties, shape, volume fraction, inclination, etc. These properties depend on the comprehensive mechanical performance of the composite model. The homogenization models aim to determine the stress- strain behavior at the microscopic and macroscopic levels (Wang & Huang, 2017; Younes et al., 2012). 3.1. Mori-Tanaka Model Micromechanical models such as Mori-Tanaka (M-TA) (Mori & Tanaka, 1973; Benveniste, 1987; Hill, 1965) and generalized self-consistent (Hill, 1965) have been utilized in computing different properties of short fiber composites. The M-TA model is used for composites made from short fiber and has yielded the best values for fillers with a large aspect ratio. This model employs Eshelby's inclusion theory. This model aims to envisage the general nature of fibers and matrces. The prime benefit of the M-TA model is that in the estimation of elastic features of nano-filler-based composite, it also considers the consequence of the shape and dimensions of the nanoparticles. To examine the mechanical characteristics of nanocomposites, various researchers have applied analytical models and simulation models (Seretis et al., 2017; Ojha et al., 2019; Hadden et al., 2015; Rafiee et al., 2018; Aliha et al., 2012, 2015). The longitudinal and transverse Young's modulus, axial Poisson's ratio, and axial shear modulus are given by the following equations (Abaimov et al., 2016): E LO = V E 1 fib fib + − (1 ) V E fib max + 2 V fib − (1 E TRA = − [1 ( υ max E 1 ) ]( 2 + Y Y 1 2 ) V Z υ υ max fib − fib ) ( 12 1 2 ) υ υ max AX = + 2 V fib Z 1 E max υ υ ( max 12 − fib − )[1 ( υ max ) ] 2 G AX = E fib max )(1 2(1 − V + υ max ) + V fib −   1     4 V + 1 V fib + 2(1 − V fib = Y V Z 1 1 fib fib E 1 E max    υ 1 max    max   + E − 2 E fib 1 1 + fib υ + 23 E fib 2          + υ max (1 ) fib fib G 12 E max ) = Y 2 1 υ max − 1 ( ) + 2 V fib    E 1 Z 2   1     + υ 23 fib − fib 2 max E E − υ max (1 )    (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) T. Saxena and V.K. Chawla / Engineering Solid Mechanics 12 (2024) 2 ) + − (1 V ) fib fib + 1 − υ 23 E fib 2 + υ max (1 )[1 V fib max + E − (1 2 υ max )      Z 1   = −    2(1 − V ) fib υ ( 23 E 1 fib fib Z 2 = fib E 2 (3 + V fib − υ 4 max )(1 + υ max + − (1 ) ) V E fb max (1 + υ 23 fib ) 69 (9) (10) For 2% NTiO2, the elastic features of banana-hemp fiber-blended NTiO2 particles an epoxy composite can be evaluated using Eqs.(3) - (6): E LO = 46.4 GPa E 1, + EPO NTiO + 2 = 46.4 + 20.2 = 66.6 GPa where: Z 1 BAF = 25.46; Z 1 HAF = 23.21; Z 1 NTiO 2 = 25.89; (Values calculated using Eq. (9)) 2, + = 13.12 GPa E = + υ 0.4 + 12, EPO NTiO = + 26.87 GPa G = 0.08; Y Y 1 2 2 12, E TRA υ AX G where: (10)) AX EPO NTiO = + 0.14 0.10 2 = + = = + 13.12 65.1 0.24 = + 26.87 7.5 0.18; Y 2 = = Y 1 + EPO NTiO = 1.15; 2 GPa 78.2 34.4 = GPa 3.7; Z = BAF Similarly, the elastic properties of the proposed composite are evaluated for 4% and 6% NTiO2 and are given in Table 4.</s> (Values calculated using Eq. (7), (8), and 21.35 HAF HAF HAF BAF 2 3.2. Generalized Self-Consistent Model The generalized self-consistent (GS-C) model was initially developed by (Hill, 1965; Budiansky, 1965) to calculate the elastic features of isotropic spherical particle-reinforced composite structures. This model determines the elastic features of short- fiber composites (Chou et al., 1980; Kumar et el., 2020b). In this model, a particulate consisting of elastic properties of short fiber is required to be placed in a uniform homogenous medium, where the neighboring medium has the undetermined elastic features of the composite that needs to be determined. The longitudinal Young's modulus, axial Poisson's ratio, and axial shear modulus are given by the following equations (Abaimov et al., 2016): E LO = E V fib 1 fib + E max (1 − V + ) fib − (1 4 V fib − (1 V fib K fib 23 V ) fib + ) fib − υ υ )( max 12 V 1 G K max fib max + 23 υ υ 12 AX = V fib fib + υ max (1 − V + ) fib V fib (1 − V fib − υ υ )( max 12 fib − (1 K V fib fib V K + ) 23 23 )    fib max G AX = G max fib fib G 12 G 12 (1 (1 + − V V fib fib + + ) ) G G max max − + (1 (1 V V ) ) fib fib 2 − 1 23 K fib    1 max 23 1 G max K + (11) (12) (13) For 2% NTiO2, the elastic features of banana-hemp fiber-blended NTiO2 particles and epoxy composite can be evaluated using Eqs. (11) - (13): LOE = 66.6 GPa + = υ AX 0.14 Similarly, elastic features of the proposed composite are evaluated for 4% and 6% NTiO2 and are given in Table 4.</s> 0.14 0.10 0.24 27.3 7.5 34.8 GPa G 12, υ + EPO NTiO 2 EPO NTiO 2 GPa 27.3 G = + = = + = + = 12, AX + 70 3.3. Modified Halpin-Tsai Model The modified Halpin-Tsai model (M-HTS) is a semi-empirical micromechanical model formed by Halpin-Tsai to improve the transverse elastic modulus as attained by the rule of mixture. The M-HTS model, also known as a semi-physical model, is based on parameters having natural importance (Dahlen & Springer, 1994; Ramakrishna et al., 2006). Semi-empirical relations have fitting parameters that make modeling simple and easy (Genin & Birman, 2009; Alvinasab, 2009). The M- HTS model evaluates the matrix modulus for fiber diameter by exhibiting an equivalent constant. The M-HTS method relies on finite element research, considering the prospects of multiple fiber configurations (Giner et al., 2015). The transverse Young's modulus and axial shear modulus as suggested by (Halpin, 1969), are given by: E TRA = max E 1 + ξ η ' ' E E 2 2 − ξ 1 ' V E 2     BAF HEF / V BAF HEF / G where, 1     HEF BAF HEF / V BAF HEF / ξ η + ' ' G G 12 12 η − 1 G V 12 < 0.3 = G max AX BAF V , V         E    E 2 / 2 max BAF HAF E BAF HAF E max /  −    +   1 ξ E 2 η E 2 =    where: { ξ = 4.924 35.888 V E 2 { + 1.5 5500 V BAF HEF − 18 18 / BAF HEF / + 125.118 V 2 BAF HEF / 2 − 145.121 V 3 BAF HEF / if V BAF , V HAF ≥ 0.3 η G 12 =       / G BAF HEF 12 G BAF max G 12 G max  +   1  −   ξ G 12 ; ξ G 12 = + 1 40 V 10 BAF HEF / 10 (14) (15) (16) (17) if V BAF , V HAF < 0.3 3 The following equations of longitudinal elastic modulus and axial Poisson's ratio are given by (Dahlen & Springer, 1994).</s> E LO = E 1 BAF V BAF + E 1 HEF HEF V + E 1, EPO NTiO 2 + υ υ 12 AX = BAF V BAF + υ 12 HEF HEF V + υ + 12, EPO NTiO 2 (18) (19) For 2% NTiO2, the elastic features of banana-hemp fiber-blended NTiO2 particles and epoxy composite can be evaluated using eqs. (14) - (19): Similarly, elastic features of the proposed composite are evaluated for 4% and 6% nano-TiO2 and are given in Table 4.</s> 27.5 7.5 35.0 GPa G 12, 0.15 0.10 υ + EPO NTiO 2 EPO NTiO 2 GPa GPa 0.35 0.25 27.5 66.6 υ AX LOE G = + = + = = + = + = = 12, AX + 3.4. Calculation of elastic properties for nano-TiO2 with epoxy resin NTiO2 particles with different weight percentages (2%, 4%, 6%) are mixed with epoxy resin and are used as a binding medium in modeling the proposed composite. The formulae below are as per modified ROM for calculating the elastic properties of nano-TiO2 with epoxy resin (Tsai & Hahn, 2018).</s> E 1,ENTiO 2 = E 3,ENTiO 2 = V E max max + V NTiO 2 E NTiO 2 (20) T. Saxena and V.K. Chawla / Engineering Solid Mechanics 12 (2024) E 2,ENTiO 2 υ 13,ENTiO 2 υ 12,ENTiO 2 = = = + 2 2 V E max NTiO υ V E max max max (1 V E max max = V max NTiO V NTiO − (1 − υ NTiO υ υ 32,ENTiO 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 E Eβ E E max NTiO − E V V max NTiO max + υ υ ) V 2 NTiO NTiO NTiO + υ ) V E 2 NTiO NTiO + υ V NTiO max G G max NTiO − V V G max NTiO max NTiO − (1 E − υ max NTiO (1 V NTiO NTiO max + 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ) υ max ) 2 G Gη max NTiO 2 2 = = 2 2 G 12,ENTiO G 12,ENTiO where: υ max 2 β = G 32,ENTiO = 2 V G max NTiO 2 E 1,ENTiO υ + 13,ENTiO 2 ) 2 2(1 E NTiO 2 E + υ NTiO 2 2 max V E max max + − υ υ 2 max NTiO 2 NTiO 2 − − υ υ 2 max NTiO 2 NTiO 2 E max E E V NTiO 2 G G V NTiO 2 max NTiO 2 2 + υ max 2 G NTiO 2 G max + υ NTiO 2 η = V G max max G max For 2% Nano-TiO2, 𝐺(cid:2869)(cid:2870),(cid:3006)(cid:3015)(cid:3021)(cid:3036)(cid:3016)(cid:3118)=𝐺(cid:2871)(cid:2870),(cid:3006)(cid:3015)(cid:3021)(cid:3036)(cid:3016)(cid:3118)=7.5𝐺𝑃𝑎, where: E 1,ENTiO 20.2 GPa = 2 71 (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) , E 2,ENTiO 2 = 65.1 GPa , υ 12,ENTiO 2 = 0.10 , 0.03β= ,η= 53.2 4. Fiber hybridization and its utilization Fiber hybridization enhances and examines the composite features (Essabir et al., 2016; Thwe & Liao, 2002). Fiber hybridization is significant in deciding the nature of fibers in the hybrid composite. It determines the tensile strain at which hybrid composite fails and how this strain varies with the failure strain of the composite reinforced with a single fiber. Hybrid composites are made up of high-elastic and low-elastic fibers. The fibers that resist breakage are called high-elastic fibers, and fibers that tend to break easily are called low-elastic fibers. In the current study, high elastic fiber is hemp, and low elastic fiber is banana.</s> The hybrid effect hbrR , as given by (Zweben, 1977), is: − 2 1 s q s h  =    − γ (m 1) h  − γ 2 (m 1)   R hbr The unproductive length γand 𝛾=1.531(cid:4678)𝐸(cid:2869)𝐴(cid:2869) (cid:4593)𝑠 𝐻ℎ(cid:3032) (cid:4679)(cid:2869)(cid:2870)⁄ hγ for the hybrid composite is given by (Zweben, 1977): γ h = 2 ρ '1 2    ' E A s 1 1 Hh e 1 2    n ' 2 2 ) n ' 2 1 − − n n ' ' 2 1 (2 − − n ' 2 2 where: the ratio of fibers' extensional stiffness (2 n ' 1 2 ) )ρ is given by (Zweben, 1977): '( ' ' = = = ρ ' ρ ' 0.05 and 3.48 70 E A ' 1 1 E A 2 2 where: 1 1E A = Exact stiffness of low elastic fibers (LEF) (banana fiber).</s>2E A = Exact stiffness of high elastic fibers (HEF) (hemp fiber).</s>he = Matrix height.</s>S = Distance between fibers.</s>H = Shear modulus of the matrix.</s> 2 ' The strain and strain concentration factors 'K and ' hK respectively, and a constant are given by (Zweben, 1977): 1,2n '  72 n = K h 1.293 = + 1 ' m ' 1,2  =   ' 1 n ρ ' − (2 n + ± 1 ( − − ' 1 n ' (2 n + 1) 1 2 2 ' n 2 ' 1 2 ) ρ '2 ρ ' 2 ) − ' n 2 1 2    Substituting the value 2n' = 1.0. Substituting the values 1n' = 6.4 and γ = 1.531 × 3.48 (200 30) 30 × 0.32 1 1000 2 × × × 5 − 1.9(1.02 × 2 2.1(1.293 5 1) − 1)          = 1.5 ∴ hbrR = = 0.19 10.9 (31) (32) = 1.9    'ρobtained above in Eq. (32), we get: m ' & ' 1 2 m obtained above in Eq. (31), we get: ' 1.02 hK = γ γ are calculated using Eqs. (29) and (30) as: & h    − × 1 2 5 1 2 = 2.1 γ h = 2 0.05 (3.6)    ;s ≈ 5 2 6.4 2 1.0 2 − − 6.4(2 6.4 ) 1.0(2 1.0 ) 2 − − Therefore, the tensile strain at which banana-hemp fiber reinforced NTiO2 and epoxy composite fails is 1.5 times higher than the composites made up of banana fibers alone.</s> 5. Finite Element Model 5.1. Model Dimensions The proposed composite specimen is modeled and analyzed for its mechanical features on ANSYS APDL application.</s>The following assumptions are considered in this study: • The composite has no irregularity and is free of voids.</s>• Fibers are aligned in the matrix uniformly.</s>• Fibers and matrix is affixed perfectly.</s>• The size of the fibers is the same.</s> The dimensions taken in this current study are according to ASTM D3039 grade (Dixit & Padhee, 2019): sample length= 30 mm, sample breadth = 200 mm, and lamina thickness = 1 mm/layer. The number of layers = 3 (Dixit & Padhee, 2019).</s>Depth of each specimen = 3 mm, Boundary conditions: Degree of freedom = zero. The specimen sides are fully constrained.</s>After modeling the sample, a mesh tool is used to mesh the sample. This study divides the specimen model into 20 meshes vertically and 15 meshes horizontally. Meshed model is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1. Meshed model in ANSYS composite 5.2. Loads on the fibers and fibers orientation T. Saxena and V.K. Chawla / Engineering Solid Mechanics 12 (2024) 73 The assessment of the properties is executed by using element 3D 4 Shell 181 (Dixit & Padhee, 2019). An application of 250 KN (Dixit & Padhee, 2019) point load is applied to the specimen at 21 nodes in the transverse direction (along -z-axis) as displayed in (Fig. 4). The specimen is laid in the order of layers: banana fiber - NTiO2 and epoxy-hemp fiber at angles of 450, 00, 450 respectively also displayed in Fig. 2. Banana fiber Hemp fiber 250 KN NTiO2 and epoxy 30 mm 200 mm Fig. 2. Application of transverse point load on the proposed composite The configuration of layers in ANSYS APDL is shown in Fig. 3. The total vector sum distortion for the proposed composite material reinforced with 2%, 4%, and 6% NTiO2 particles is given in Table 4. The total vector sum distortion plots in ANSYS APDL application for NTiO2composition of 2%, 4% & 6% are also shown in Fig. 5.</s> Fig. 3. Orientation of layers at 00 in ANSYS APDL Fig. 4. Application of point load on the meshed model at 21 nodes 74 (a) (b) (c) (a) 2 % (b) 4% (c) 6% NTiO2 Fig. 5. Total vector sum distortion for banana-hemp fiber blended nano-titanium oxide (NTiO2) and an epoxy resin having Table 4. Elastic properties, total vector sum distortion, and FEM results for different weight percentages of NTiO2 reinforcement in the proposed composite NTiO2 % Elastic Properties Mori-Tanaka Model Generalized Self- Consistent Model Modified Halpin- Tsai Model FE model 2% 4% 6% 1E (GPa) 12υ 2E (GPa) 12G (GPa) 1E (GPa) 12υ 2E (GPa) 12G (GPa) 1E (GPa) 12υ 2E (GPa) 12G (GPa) 66.6 0.24 78.2 34.4 68.2 0.48 79.8 34.1 70.2 0.49 81.1 37.5 66.6 0.24 ** 34.8 67 0.48 ** 34.6 69.5 0.49 ** 37.6 66.6 0.25 ** 35.0 67.1 0.48 ** 35.5 69.5 0.48 ** 38.2 Total vector sum distortion from ANSYS 0.16525 mm 0.16437 mm 0.16208 mm 68.2 0.26 84.4 36.2 69.1 0.49 84.5 36.2 71.3 0.50 84.5 39.1 T. Saxena and V.K. Chawla / Engineering Solid Mechanics 12 (2024) 75 6. Results and Discussion In the current study, the proposed composite material blended with 2%, 4% & 8% NTiO2 particles is configured in ANSYS APDL. The main objective is to examine and compare elastic properties obtained from different analytical models )MEE and FEM simulations to determine the mean error and distortion for 2%, 4% & 6% NTiO2 inclusions. The mean error ( is evaluated using the following equation (Loan & Gloub, 1996): E ME x fem fem x × = 100 − any x anyx = Values obtained by finite element model.</s> = Values obtained by analytical models.</s> where: femx Mahesha et al. (2022) conducted experiments to evaluate the tensile and shear stress of jute-hemp fiber reinforced nano titanium oxide hybrid-composite by varying the weight % of NTiO2 filler. The composition of fibers and fillers used by Mahesha et al. (2022) and in this study are shown in Table 5. The results obtained for tensile and shear stress (Mahesha et al., 2022) are compared with the simulation results of the proposed composite, as shown in tabular form in Table 6. A decline of 61% in tensile stress and 55.6% in shear stress is observed in the proposed composite reinforced with 2 wt % NTiO2 as compared to the value of tensile stress of 60 MPa and shear stress of 46 MPa for jute-hemp fibers reinforced with 2 wt % of NTiO2 fillers (Mahesha et al., 2022). For 4 wt % of NTiO2, the tensile stress shows a decline of 61.2% as compared to the value of tensile stress of 65 MPa, and shear stress shows a decline of 53.7% as compared to the value of shear stress of 53 MPa for jute-hemp fibers reinforced with 4 wt % of NTiO2 fillers (Mahesha et al., 2022). Variation of tensile stress and shear stress for different weight percentages of NTiO2 filler is given in Fig. 6.</s> Table 5. The weight percentage of fibers and filler used in this study and by (Mahesha et al., 2022).</s> Fibers and filler Composition Mahesha et al., (2022) (Experimental work) (wt%) Proposed hybrid composite (wt%) S.No.</s> (33) 1 2 3 Hemp NTiO2 Epoxy 4 5 Banana Jute 30 2 4 6 61 59 57 -- 7 Table 6. A comparison of tensile and shear stress obtained by FEM for the proposed composite with the experimental results (Mahesha et al., 2022).</s>Nano-TiO2 (%) 2 4 6 Mahesha et al., (2022) Tensile stress (MPa) 60 65 68 Proposed Composite Tensile stress (MPa) 23.4 25.2 28.0 Shear stress (MPa) 46 53 57 Shear stress (MPa) 20.4 24.5 26.7 30 2 4 6 61 59 57 7 -- Experimenta l (Mahesha et al., 2022) Proposed composite ) a P M ( s s e r t s e l i s n e T 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2 Experimenta l (Mahesha et al., 2022) Proposed composite ) a P M ( s s e r t s r a e h S 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2 4 6 NTiO2 (%) (a) Fig. 6. Variation of (a) tensile stress and (b) shear stress for (2%, 4% & 6%) weight of NTiO2 filler for the proposed composite values and experimental values (Mahesha et al., 2022).</s> (b) 6 4 NTiO2 (%) 76 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 ) % ( r o r r E n a e M 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ) % ( r o r r E n a e M Longitudinal Elastic modulus(ELO) M-TA GS-CS M-HTS 2 6 4 NTiO2(%) (a) Axial shear modulus (GAX) ) % ( r o r r e n a e M 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Axial Poisson's ratio (υAX) M-TA GS-SC M-HTS 2 6 4 NTiO2 (%) (b) Transverse elastic modulus (ETRA) 8 M-TA GS-SC M-HTS 6 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ) % ( r o r r E n a e M 2 M-TA 6 2 4 NTiO2 (%) (c) 4 NTiO2 (%) (d) Fig. 7. Results for the mean error for (a) Longitudinal elastic modulus (b) Axial Poisson's ratio (c) Axial shear modulus (d) Transverse elastic modulus The mean error values are calculated for all the elastic properties obtained from different analytical models for 2%, 4%, and 6% NTiO2 reinforcements and are shown in Fig.7. These errors indicate the percent divergence of the elastic values obtained from analytical models from the elastic values acquired by FEM results. The points given below are summarized from the results shown in Fig. 7.</s> 6.1. Longitudinal elastic modulus (ELO) Longitudinal elastic modulus is the axial stress divided by the uniaxial longitudinal strain that is when there is no strain in the lateral direction. It can be noticed from Fig. 7 (a) that for 6% NTiO2 reinforcement, the M-TA model is showing the least variation from the FEM result, as it is giving the lowest value of the mean error of 1.54% as compared to 2.5% of mean error by GS-C & M-HTS models. For 2%, the mean error % is 2.34 for all the models and shows equal concurrence with FEM results. From the values obtained for ELO, it is found that the proposed composite blended with 6% NTiO2 is more flexible and tough in comparison to 2% & 4% NTiO2 reinforcements.</s> 6.2. Axial Poisson's ratio (υAX) Axial Poisson's ratio is the degree of transverse elongation of fibers divided by the degree of axial compression of fibers.</s>From Fig. 7(b), it is clear that for 4% NTiO2 reinforcement, the mean error % is 2.04 for all the models and shows equal concurrence and low % variation from FEM results. For 2% NTiO2 reinforcement, both M-TA and GS-C models offer the highest variation of 7.69%, while the M-HTS model yields the lowest variation of 3.84% from FEM results.</s> 6.3. Axial shear modulus (GAX)  T. Saxena and V.K. Chawla / Engineering Solid Mechanics 12 (2024) 77 It is the ratio of shear stress to the specimen's axial displacement per unit length. It is clear from Fig. Fig. 7(d) that for 2%, 4% & 6% reinforcement, M-TA & GS-C models are showing the highest variation in comparison to the results obtained for mean error % for 2%, 4% & 6% NTiO2 reinforcement by M-HTS model.</s> 6.4. Transverse elastic modulus (ETRA) The transverse elastic modulus is the transverse stress divided by the uniaxial transverse strain when no strain exists in the axial direction. It is clear from Fig. 7(c) that the M-TA model for 2% NTiO2 reinforcement yields the highest variation of 7.34% compared to 5.56% and 4.02% for 4% and 6% NTiO2 reinforcement, respectively.</s> 7. Conclusion A new composite material banana-hemp fiber blended with nano-titanium oxide and an epoxy matrix, is modeled. The composite material developed is examined for elastic properties like longitudinal elastic modulus, transverse elastic modulus, axial Poisson's ratio, and axial shear modulus by using Mori-Tanaka, generalized Self-Consistent, and modified Halpin-Tsai model and validated by FEM results and literature. Total vector sum distortion for 2%, 4%, and 6 weight% of NTiO2 reinforcement in the proposed composite is also calculated. The mean error percent is calculated for all the elastic properties.</s>It shows the deviation from the elastic properties obtained by FEM results. The following points are mentioned: The elastic properties calculated by the modified Halpin Tsai model for 2%, 4%, and 6 weight% of NTiO2 in the proposed composite are the most effective, as the values obtained by this model show the least mean error percent compared with the FEM results. In contrast, the Mori-Tanaka model is the least efficient as the values obtained by this model show the highest mean error percent.</s> • The composite reinforced with 6 weight% NTiO2 filler is the most flexible and tough due to its eminent value of longitudinal elastic modulus of 70.2 GPa in contrast to the composite reinforced with 2% and 4 weight% NTiO2 filler.</s> • Tensile stress in the proposed composite decreases by 61%, and shear stress decreases by 55.6% than in jute-hemp fiber reinforced hybrid composite for 2 wt% nano titanium oxide filler. Adding banana fiber instead of jute fiber in hemp fiber reinforced hybrid composite reduces tensile and shear stress.</s> • Total vector sum distortion for the arrangement of banana fibers at 450, epoxy and NTiO2 particles at 00, and hemp fibers at 450, and for 6 weight% NTiO2 filler composition, is found to be the least, having the value of 0.16208 mm. Therefore, the proposed composite blended with 6 weight% NTiO2 filler has the highest load-carrying capacity and is the strongest among the composites blended with 2% and 4% NTiO2 filler. The composite blended with 2 weight% NTiO2 filler is found to have the lowest strength as this composite is obtained to have the highest total vector sum deformation of 0.16525 mm.</s> • The hybridization value for the proposed composite is calculated to be 1.5. It shows that the hybrid composite's hemp fiber (high elastic fiber) is 1.5 times tougher than the banana fiber (low elastic fiber) in the hybrid composite. Including banana fiber in the hemp fiber blended composite upgrades the strain rate at which the hybrid composite fails. The hybrid composite has more strength and toughness due to the increase in tensile failure strain features compared to the failure strain of only hemp fiber (HEF fiber) blended composite.</s>