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Fiber-microsphere Binary Structured Composite Fibrous Membranes for Waterproof and Breathable Applications

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Abstract

Membranes with the functions of waterproofness and breathability are of great interest due to their huge scientific and commercial value in many practical applications. However, designing such membranes with a desirable performance by simple and efficient fabrication process remains a tremendous challenge. Herein, novel binary structured composite fibrous membranes were developed for waterproof and breathable applications via simple one-step multi-jet electrospinning technology. This composite membranes were made up of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN). PVDF was incorporated into the PAN fiber matrix as a modifier to improve the hydrophobic behavior of fibers. Meanwhile, PVDF microspheres/fibers were employed as building blocks to orderly embed in PAN/PVDF fiber framework, imparting the composite membranes with fluffy micro-nano hierarchical structures. Consequently, with the integrated features of robust hydrophobicity as well as elaborate fiber-microsphere binary structure, the resultant composite membranes exhibited synergistically modest waterproof and breathable performances with the hydrostatic pressure of 18.04 kPa, water vapor transmittance (WVT) rate of 4.65 kg m−2 d−1, and air permeability of 64.19 mm s−1. This simple preparation process and unique composite structure may provide a new insight to design and fabricate waterproof and breathable membranes for variously potential applications, including the protective clothing, separation membrane, and filter.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2232020D-15, 2232020A-08, 2232020G-01, 2232020D-14 and 2232019D3-11) and grants (51773037, 51973027, 51803023, 52003044 and 61771123) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. This work has also been supported by the Chang Jiang Scholars Program and the Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2019-01-07-00-03-E00023) to Prof. Xiaohong Qin, the Shanghai Sailing Program (18YF 1400400) to Dr. Zhenzhen Quan, the Shanghai Sailing Program (19YF1400700), the Opening Project of State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure (SKL201906SIC), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST and DHU Distinguished Young Professor Program to Prof. Liming Wang.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Jiatai Gu, Zhenzhen Quan, Liming Wang, Hongnan Zhang, Ni Wang, Xiaohong Qin & Rongwu Wang

  2. Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Zhenzhen Quan & Jianyong Yu

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  1. Jiatai Gu
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  2. Zhenzhen Quan
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  3. Liming Wang
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  4. Hongnan Zhang
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  5. Ni Wang
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  6. Xiaohong Qin
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  7. Rongwu Wang
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  8. Jianyong Yu
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Correspondence to Xiaohong Qin.

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Gu, J., Quan, Z., Wang, L. et al. Fiber-microsphere Binary Structured Composite Fibrous Membranes for Waterproof and Breathable Applications. Fibers Polym 23, 1500–1509 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12221-022-4563-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12221-022-4563-8

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