Dual-bionic nano-groove structured nanofibers for breathable and moisture-wicking protective respirators

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2022.121257Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A new dual-bionic insight into material design is proposed to fabricate breathable and moisture-wicking filter media.

  • The synthetic effect of biomimetic nano-groove structure and the intrinsic property of polymers is deeply studied.

  • Air filtration performance (99.96%, 110 Pa) and moisture-wicking ability (5.67 kg m-2 d-1) are improved synchronously.

  • The sharp rise of air resistance caused by moisture condensation is avoided, overcoming the drawback of melt-blown filters.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic makes protective respirators highly demanded. The respirator materials should filter out viral fine aerosols effectively, allow airflow to pass through easily, and wick away the exhalant moisture timely. However, the commonly used melt-blown nonwovens perform poorly in meeting these requirements simultaneously. Herein, dual-bionic nano-groove structured (NGS) nanofibers are fabricated to serve as protective, breathable and moisture-wicking respirator materials. The creativity of this design is that the tailoring of dual-bionic nano-groove structure, combined with the strong polarity and hydrophilicity of electrospinning polymer, not only endows the nanofibrous materials with improved particle capture ability but also enable them to wick away and transmit breathing moisture. Benefitting from the synthetic effect of hierarchical structure and the intrinsic property of polymers, the resulting NGS nanofibrous membranes show a high filtration efficiency of 99.96%, a low pressure drop of 110 Pa, and a high moisture transmission rate of 5.67 kg m-2 d-1 at the same time. More importantly, the sharp increase of breathing resistance caused by the condensation of exhaled moisture is avoided, overcoming the bottleneck faced by traditional nonwovens and paving a new way for developing protective respirators with high wear comfortability.

Keywords

Electrospun nanofibers
Groove structure
Wicking effect
Air filtration
Protective respirators

Data availability

No data was used for the research described in the article.

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