Smart Textiles with Janus Wetting and Wicking Properties Fabricated by Graphene Oxide Coatings

Abstract

The interaction between water and fibers is critical in the physiological comfort of garments, especially inner wears. Antigravity directional water transport and ultrafast evaporation are the two key indicators to be expected of a high‐performance moisture management textile. However, it is practically still challenging to make the textiles with continuous directional liquid moisture transport and outstanding prevention of water penetration in the reverse direction. In this work, a Janus functional textile achieved by graphene oxide (GO) coating is developed, with the GO coating side on the textile working as the outer side for its good moisture absorbing and spreading features and the reduced GO coating side serving as the inner layer because of its hydrophobicity. Performance of the as‐prepared textile is characterized by moisture management tester, exhibiting remarkable accumulative one‐way transport index R (1145%) and a desired overall moisture management capacity (0.77) within 120 s, the negative R value (−690.4%) indicates an ultrahigh directional liquid moisture transport capacity. The Janus textile can provide a source of inspiration for the development of more adaptive textiles and garments to maximize personal comfort in demanding situations under hot and humid environments.

Fabrics with Novel Air–Oil Amphibious, Spontaneous One-Way Water-Transport Capability for Oil/Water Separation

“…The water content on both sides of the fabric was analyzed by a moisture management tester (MMT). 46 During the examination, 0.22 mL of KCl solution (electrical conductivity, 16 ± 0.2 μS/cm) was dropped on the top side of the fabric and the water movement behavior in the fabric was then recorded for 120 s. As shown in Figure 6a, when the U-side was placed on the top, water content on the U-side increased rapidly to 6800% in the initial 30 s and then kept relatively stable, while on the S-side, water was not measured in the first 40 s and only little amount of water (800%) presented on the S-side after about 80 s. This is because the U-side had an excellent superhydrophilicity and water could be quickly absorbed and spread within the fibrous matrix. But water could not be absorbed on the S-side owing to the hydrophobic force (HF) on the fabric surface.…”

A review on emerging developments in thermal and moisture management by membrane‐based clothing systems towards personal comfort

“…Moisture management performance is one of the key functionalities of textile to encounter the undesired sensations caused by excessive sweat. One of the challenges in designing an intelligent moisture management system is fabricating a functional membrane with directional water transport outward in a continuous manner while simultaneously reverse water penetration is prohibited 88–91 . In literature, 91 two major strategies based on the rate of wettability change across the membrane thickness have been proposed for fabricating unidirectional liquid transport (ULT) membranes: (1) Janus wettability and wettability gradient.…”

“…This method is solvent‐Free and could be easily scale‐up by a roll‐to‐roll module. By coating a layer of hydrophilic GO on the outer side and a layer of superhydrophobic reduced GO on the inner side of the fabric, a double‐faced textile with an ultrahigh directional water transport capability has been developed 90 …”

“…By coating a layer of hydrophilic GO on the outer side and a layer of superhydrophobic reduced GO on the inner side of the fabric, a doublefaced textile with an ultrahigh directional water transport capability has been developed. 90 Hou et al 110 stated that besides to wettability gradient, special interpenetrating topology also has a profound contribution to the unidirectional liquid transport in the Janus membranes. Zhang et al 111 reported a selfsupported Janus monolayered poly (ether sulfone) (PES) membrane.…”

Enhanced Liquid Propagation and Wicking Along Nanostructured Porous Surfaces

“…A good wick surface can be made by introducing micro-/nanostructures to an intrinsically hydrophilic surface. [19][20][21] For widely used materials (i.e., metal, ceramic, and carbon based), different approaches have been addressed to create micro-/nanostructures, including chemical etching, [22] electrochemical deposition, [23] physical vapor deposition, [24] annealing, [25] anodization, [26] and so on. [27,28] Meanwhile, micro-/ nanostructured surfaces can enable a large area of thin-film evaporation for liquids with low thermal resistance and high heat transfer rate, making them attractive for high heat flux cooling applications.…”