Functional
textiles with enhanced moisture management can facilitate
sweat transport away from the skin to improve personal comfort. However,
porous materials exhibit low capability of preventing the intrusion
of external liquids, becoming a bottleneck in the design of medical
protective clothing. Herein, a trilayered composite fabric based on
a gradient wettability structure is demonstrated for directional water
transport and resistance to blood penetration. The proposed fabric
shows distinct advantages, including a high water breakthrough pressure
of 2.43 kPa from the external side, an outstanding positive water
transport index (1522%), and an antiblood penetration resistance of
2.71 kPa. Moreover, the fabric shows improved comfort with a high
moisture transmission (320 g m–2 h–1) and desired water evaporation rate (0.36 g h–1). This work addressed the concern of directional water transport
and resistance to blood penetration while providing a comfortable
wearing microenvironment, leading to a promising research direction
for multifunctional medical textiles.
Humidifying membranes with ultrafast water transport and evaporation play a vital role in indoor humidification that improves personal comfort and industrial productivity in daily life. However, commercial nonwoven (NW) humidifying membranes show mediocre humidification capability owing to limited wicking capacity, low water absorption, and relatively less water evaporation. Herein, we report a biomimetic micro-/nanofibrous composite membrane with a highly aligned fibrous structure using a humidity-induced electrospinning technique for high-efficiency indoor humidification. Surface wettability and roughness are also tailored to achieve a high degree of superhydrophilicity by embedding hydrophilic silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO 2 NPs) into the fiber matrix. The synergistic effect of the highly aligned fibrous structure and surface wettability endows composite membranes with ultrafast water transport and evaporation. Strikingly, the composite membrane exhibits an outstanding wicking height of 19.5 cm, a superior water absorption of 497.7%, a fast evaporation rate of 0.34 mL h −1 , and a relatively low air pressure drop of 14.4 Pa, thereby achieving a remarkable humidification capacity of 514 mL h −1 (57% higher than the commercial NW humidifying membrane). The successful synthesis of this biomimetic micro-/nanofibrous composite membrane provides new insights into the development of micro-/nanofibrous humidifying membranes for personal health and comfort as well as industrial production.
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