Biomimetic Fibrous Murray Membranes with Ultrafast Water Transport and Evaporation for Smart Moisture-Wicking Fabrics

Abstract

Both antigravity directional water transport and ultrafast evaporation are critical to achieving a high-performance moisture-wicking fabric. The transpiration in vascular plants possess both of these features, which is due to their optimized hierarchical structure composed of multibranching porous networks following Murray’s law. However, it remains a great challenge to simultaneously realize the ultrafast water transport and evaporation by mimicking nature’s Murray networks in the synthetic materials. Here, we report a synergistic assembly strategy to create a biomimetic micro- and nanofibrous membrane with antigravity directional water transport and quick-dry performance by combining a multibranching porous structure and surface energy gradient, overcoming previous limitations. The resulting fiber-based porous Murray membranes exhibit an ultrahigh one-way transport capability (R) of 1245%, a desired overall moisture management capability (OMMC) of 0.94, and an outstanding water evaporation rate of 0.67 g h–1 (5.8 and 2.1 times higher than the cotton fabric and Coolmax fabric, respectively). Overall, the successful synthesis of these biomimetic porous Murray membranes should serve as a source of inspiration for the development of moisture-wicking technologies, providing personal comfort in hot or humid environments.

Asymmetric Surface Engineering for Janus Membranes

“…Layer‐by‐layer electrospinning is able to establish a two‐layered Janus nanofibrous membrane by sequentially electrospinning hydrophobic nanofibers onto hydrophilic ones and vice versa. [ 22–37 ] A wide range of polymers are available choices for this method, including polyurethane, [ 22–24 ] polyvinylidene fluoride, [ 25–32 ] polymethylmethacrylate, [ 33 ] polylactic acid, [ 34 ] polystyrene, [ 35 ] poly(vinyl alcohol), [ 24 ] cellulose acetate, [ 25,36 ] and polyacrylonitrile. [ 23,25,33,35,37 ] Similarly, hydrophilic−hydrophobic carbon nanotubes [ 38 ] or hydrophilic FeOOH−hydrophobic ZnO nanoparticles [ 39 ] are sequentially deposited on a porous substrate via vacuum filtration method.…”

“…It is thus reasonable to construct a Janus membrane consisting of one layer with large‐sized pores and the other one with small‐sized pores via the sequential electrospinning technique. [ 22,36 ] Another strategy to construct asymmetric pores on opposite surfaces of Janus membrane is firstly to prepare a membrane with homogeneous pore size, and then to reduce the pore size of one surface while keep the other surface unaffected. For example, in situ growing conical nanoneedle clusters onto one side of the mesh can result in large−small pores on two sides of the integrated membranes.…”

“…Such particular gating property has endowed Janus membranes with competitive advantages in the applications of liquid manipulation, including oil collection, [ 29,40,49,53,106,107 ] oil−water separation, [ 34,37–39,44,46,54,59,65,69,100,108 ] fog harvesting, [ 16,20,32,78,82,85,88 ] and biofluid management. [ 22,23,25,35,36,60 ]…”

Waterproof and Breathable Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes

“…Nowadays, W&B nanofibrous membranes are mainly applied in the functional garment industry, including protective clothing and quick‐dry sportswear. W&B nanofibrous membranes have been exploited in fabrics to protect the wearer from the rain and snow, as well as to maintain comfortable microclimate for the human body .…”

“…Nowadays, W&B nanofibrous membranes are mainly applied in the functional garment industry, [120,121] including protective Macromol. Rapid Commun.…”