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Electrospun Superhydrophobic Self-Cleaning Materials

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Electrospun Nanofibers for Energy and Environmental Applications

Part of the book series: Nanostructure Science and Technology ((NST))

Abstract

In this chapter, we introduce the wettability of electrospinning products. Especially, we concentrate on the fabrication, characteristics, and applications of the electrospun self-cleaning materials. Self-cleaning materials are typical nature-inspired artificial materials learning from such as lotus leaf and many other plants or animals. Self-cleaning materials usually rely on a superhydrophobic surface, which should be of low surface free energy as well as large surface roughness. Electrospinning method is such a method that could facilely shape various hydrophobic polymers into ultrathin fibers with tunable surface microstructures. It means the electrospun products are of very large specific area, which satisfy the two basic conditions in preparing superhydrophobic surfaces. Therefore, in the last decade, scientists put forward a good few of elegant approaches to fabricate superhydrophobic materials by electrospinning. These methods can be generally classified into two routes. One is a direct route that creates superhydrophobic electrospun films from hydrophobic materials. Another is an indirect route that decorates electrospun nanofibers (no matter hydrophobic or hydrophilic) with hydrophobic chemicals. We first introduce some representative works on the fabrication of superhydrophobic self-cleaning materials by electrospinning method. Then we show some applications of these superhydrophobic materials. Finally, we give a brief personal perspective on this area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, China

    Yong Zhao & Nü Wang

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  1. Yong Zhao
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  2. Nü Wang
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Correspondence to Yong Zhao .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

    Bin Ding

  2. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

    Jianyong Yu

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Zhao, Y., Wang, N. (2014). Electrospun Superhydrophobic Self-Cleaning Materials. In: Ding, B., Yu, J. (eds) Electrospun Nanofibers for Energy and Environmental Applications. Nanostructure Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54160-5_18

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