Carbon Nanotubes Enhanced Fluorinated Polyurethane Macroporous Membranes for Waterproof and Breathable Application

Abstract

Waterproof and breathable macroporous membranes that are both completely resistant to liquid water penetration and easily allowable to vapor transmission would have significant implication for numerous applications; however, fabrication of such materials has proven to be tremendously challenging. Herein, we reported novel electrospun composite fibrous membranes with high waterproof and breathable performance, which consisted of polyurethane (PU), terminal fluorinated polyurethane (FPU), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Benefiting from the utilization of FPU and CNTs, the fibrous membranes were endowed with superhydrophobic surface, optimized pores size and porosity, along with enhanced fibers, which resulted in excellent waterproof, breathable and mechanical properties. Significantly, the relationship among waterproofness, pore structure and surface wettability has been confirmed finely accordance with Young-Laplace equation. Ultimately, the resultant membranes presented high waterproofness with hydrostatic pressure up to 108 kPa, good breathability with water vapor transmission rate over 9.2 kg m(-2) d(-1), as well as robust mechanical properties with bursting strength of 47.6 kPa and tensile strength of 12.5 MPa, suggesting them as promising alternatives for a number of potential applications, such as protective clothing.

All‐Fiber Structured Electronic Skin with High Elasticity and Breathability

“…Herein, methylene blue dye stained water droplets were also used to indicate the waterproofness. WVTR values were calculated according to the following equation [32] m m S WVT rate 2 4 This is mainly attributed to the hydrophobicity of PVDF and PU nanofibrous membrane with a contact angle of 134° ( Figure 1d) and 147° ( Figure S7b, Supporting Information), respectively.…”

Designing waterproof breathable material with moisture unidirectional transport characteristics based on a TPU/TBAC tree-like and TPU nanofiber double-layer membrane fabricated by electrospinning

“…Waterproof breathable clothing is a representative of this kind of clothing; it is known as the second skin of human beings, and breathable fabric. A waterproof breathable material combines waterproof properties and moisture permeability in a functional fabric, 1 and it plays an important role in special protective clothing, outdoor recreational clothing and other materials.…”

Polyvinyl Butyral Modified Polyvinylidene Fluoride Breathable–Waterproof Nanofibrous Membranes with Enhanced Mechanical Performance

“…This variation trend could be explained in the Young–Laplace model (Figure b), which described that hydrostatic pressure was controlled by the two key factors: θ adv and d max . As illustrated in the previous study, the θ adv , d max , and hydrostatic pressure should conform to the Young–Laplace equationwhere ΔΡ represents the pressure that was enough to extrude water through the pore, γ is the surface tension of water, θ adv is advancing contact angle of the dry‐casting films, and d max is the maximum pore diameter of the fibrous membranes. θ adv of the corresponding dry‐casting films decreased obviously from 113° to 95° and d max of the membranes reduced from 2.0 to 1.4 μm with increasing PVB proportion from 10 to 50 wt%, which contributed to the change of hydrostatic pressure.…”