Carbon Nanotubes Enhanced Fluorinated Polyurethane Macroporous

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Carbon Nanotubes Enhanced Fluorinated Polyurethane Macroporous Membranes for Waterproof and Breathable Application Yang Li, Zhigao Zhu, Jianyong Yu, and Bin Ding ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b02848 • Publication Date (Web): 03 Jun 2015 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on June 7, 2015

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Carbon Nanotubes Enhanced Fluorinated Polyurethane Macroporous

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Membranes for Waterproof and Breathable Application

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Yang Li,†,§ Zhigao Zhu,†,§ Jianyong Yu,‡,§ and Bin Ding*,†,‡,§

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5

of Material Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China

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7

Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China

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§

9

200051, China

State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College

Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of

Nanomaterials Research Center, Modern Textile Institute, Donghua University, Shanghai

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

*

Corresponding author: Prof. Bin Ding (E-mail: [email protected])

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ABSTRACT: Waterproof and breathable macroporous membranes that are both completely

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resistant to liquid water penetration and easily allowable to vapor transmission would have

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significant implication for numerous applications, however, fabrication of such materials has

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proved to be tremendously challenging. Herein, we reported novel electrospun composite

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fibrous membranes with high waterproof and breathable performance, which consisted of

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polyurethane (PU), terminal fluorinated polyurethane (FPU) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs).

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Benefiting from the utilization of FPU and CNTs, the fibrous membranes were endowed with

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superhydrophobic surface, optimized pores size and porosity, along with enhanced fibers,

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which resulted in excellent waterproof, breathable and mechanical properties. Significantly,

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the relationship among waterproofness, pore structure and surface wettability has been

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confirmed finely accordance with Young-Laplace equation. Ultimately, the resultant

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membranes presented high waterproofness with hydrostatic pressure up to 108 kPa, good

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breathability with water vapor transmission rate over 9.2 kg m-2 d-1, as well as robust

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mechanical properties with bursting strength of 47.6 kPa and tensile strength of 12.5 MPa,

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suggesting them as promising alternatives for a number of potential applications such as

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protective clothing.

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KEYWORDS: electrospinning, terminal fluorinated polyurethane, carbon nanotubes,

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macroporous membrane, waterproof and breathable

37 38 39 40

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1. INTRODUCTION

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Macroporous membranes that could strictly resist the penetration of liquid water while

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easily transmitting water vapor molecules have brought a revolution in a number of practical

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applications, including protective clothing and shoes, filter and separator media, and medical

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supplies.1-4 In general, the fascinating properties of resistance to water droplets penetration

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and the admittance to water vapor and gases transmission of these membranes are generated

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from the utilization of hydrophobic raw materials, which turns the porous structure into

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interconnected passageway with hydrophobic walls.5-6 Accordingly, the waterproof and

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breathable performance could be improved not only by minimization of pore size to

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withstand water penetration, but also maximization of porosity to transmit more water

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vapor.7-8

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Up to now, various conventional techniques have been employed to fabricate macroporous

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membranes with waterproofness and breathability, including mechanical fibrillation,9

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template methods10 and melt blown.11 Nevertheless, these methods are considered to be

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complicated in controlling, time-consuming and high cost, as well as inappropriate in

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regulating pore size and porosity to meet the requirement of better waterproof and breathable

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performance.

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Recently, electrospinning has proved to be an alternative to these methods, which could

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facilely fabricate macroporous membranes by accumulating of fibers, moreover, the porous

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structure could be controlled simply by regulating fiber diameter and packing density.12-14

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Owing to these advantageous features, a lot of research efforts have been made to fabricate

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waterproof and breathable macroporous membranes. In 2007, polyurethane (PU) was first

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used to prepare waterproof and breathable fibrous membranes with macroporous structure,

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which exhibited limited waterproofness with hydrostatic pressure of 3.7 kPa but good

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breathability with water vapor transmission (WVT) rate of 9 kg m-2 d-1.15 Further

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investigation had been done by utilizing thinner fibers, which resulted in higher hydrostatic

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pressure of 80 kPa but depressed WVT rate of 4.3 kg m-2 d-1.16 In our previous study, we

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reported a strategy for fabricating electrospun fibrous membranes with waterproof and

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breathable properties by introducing low surface energy materials, which exhibited medium

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hydrostatic pressure of 39.3 kPa along with high WVT rate of 9.2 kg m-2 d-1.17 Also reported

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in our recent study is that by modifying polyacrylonitrile fibrous membranes with waterborne

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polyurethane (WFPU) emulsion, we obtained waterproof and breathable fibrous membranes

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with hydrostatic pressure of 83.4 kPa and WVT rate of 9.2 kg m-2 d-1, however, this strategy

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suffered from the complicated modification procedure with WFPU emulsion.18 Therefore, in

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order to satisfy the requirement of practical application, waterproof and breathable fibrous

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membranes with improved performance and easy fabrication method are still in urgent

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demand.

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Intending to obtain electrospun fibrous membranes with better waterproof and breathable

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performance, the fibrous membranes should be promoted by other stimulative additive,

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besides the low surface energy component. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has been used as a

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promising nanofiller to prepare electrospun composite fibers and fibrous membranes, due to

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the extraordinary ability to improve mechanical, antifouling and electrical properties,19 as

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well as obtainment of uniform fibers and pores,20 which could result in improvement of

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waterproof and breathable performance of eleetrospun fibrous membranes.

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On the other hand, the resistance of water penetration of macroporous membranes has

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already known to be related to the capillary force which is generated from hydrophobic

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feature and small pore size of the porous structure.21-22 However, the electrospun

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macroporous membranes are constructed via accumulating of fibers during electrospinning

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process, which result in torturous interconnected porous structures and complex situation for

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liquid water flow through the membranes.23-24 Therefore, accurate investigation of the

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dependence of waterproof and breathable properties on the intrinsic structure characteristic is

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significant and complicated, scarce efforts have focus on this problem.

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In this study, we have designed and fabricated a kind of composite fibrous membranes

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with waterproof and breathable performance via electrospinning. The composite fibrous

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membranes consist of PU as substrate polymer, terminal fluorinated polyurethane (FPU) as

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low surface energy content and CNTs as inspiring additive. Significantly, waterproof,

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breathable and mechanical properties of the fibrous membranes were thoroughly investigated

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basing on surface wettability, fibers construction and porous structure, which were regulated

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be tuning the concentrations of polymers solutions and the contents of CNTs. Furthermore,

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Young-Laplace equation was employed to estimate the dependence of hydrostatic pressure on

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the pore structure and surface wettability. Ultimately, FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes

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with superhydrophobic surface, optimized porous structure and reinforced fibers were

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obtained, which exhibited robust waterproof, breathable and mechanical performance.

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2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION

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2.1. Materials. PU (Elastollan® 2280A10, Mw=180 000 g mol-1, density = 1.13 g cm-3) was

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purchased from BASF Polyurethane Specialties Co., Ltd., China. Multi-wall carbon

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nanotubes (CNTs, average diameter = 8 nm, length = 1-30 µm, purity > 95 wt%) were bought

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from

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(CF3(CF2)7CH2CH2OH, TEOH-8) was obtained from Hengtong Fluorine CO., Ltd., China.

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4.4’-methylenebisphenylisocyanate (MDI), Polytetramethylene ether glycol (PTMEG, Mn =

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1000 g mol-1), triethylene glycol (TEG), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethylacetamide

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(DMAc), Tetrahydrofuran (THF), anhydrous calcium chloride (CaCl2) and methanol were

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provided by Aladdin Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd., China. All chemicals were of analytical

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grade and were used as received without further purification.

Chengdu

Organic

Chemicals

Co.,

Ltd.,

China.

Perfluoro-1-decanol

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2.2. Synthesis of terminal fluorinated polyurethane. The FPU was synthesized

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according to a three-step polymerization route (as shown in Figure S1, Supporting

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Information) described in our previous works.25 Typically, a mixture of TEOH-8 (9.28 g) and

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DMF (8 g) was added dropwise into a flask containing 12.5 g MDI and 12 g of DMF. After

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stirring at 50 oC for 2 h, PTMEG (7.5 g) was added slowly to the above solution as soft

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segment to give a chain extending reaction at 60 oC for 2 h. Subsequently, TEG (2 g) as a

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chain extender was poured into the flask and stirred at 70 oC for 2 h, then the mixture was

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heated to 80 oC, followed by the addition of 2.32 g TEOH-8 and 2 g DMF to obtain FPU. The

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resultant polymers were precipitated in excess water and dried in a vacuum oven at 60 oC,

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then re-dissolved in DMAc and precipitated in an excess methanol/water mixture (1/1, w/w)

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to remove low molecular weight products. The calculated mass fraction of perfluoroalkyl

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species to FPU is 31.2%. The purified polymer was washed with methanol and water, and

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dried in a vacuum oven at 60 oC to get the final FPU. The molecular weight of the final FPU

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was measured by gel permeation chromatography, and Mw is 33 741 g mol-1. The structural

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confirmation by 1H and

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affirmations by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrograph were presented in Figure S2,

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S3 and S4 (Supporting Information).

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F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and group

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2.3. Preparation of polymers solutions. The FPU/PU solutions were prepared by

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dissolving FPU and PU in the mixture solvent of DMF/THF (1/1, w/w) with vigorous stirring

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for 12 h at ambient temperature. The polymers concentrations of the solutions were 1.0, 1.5,

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2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 wt%, respectively, and the FPU/PU weight ratio was kept 1:8 in all samples.

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Additionally, the FPU/PU/CNTs solutions were prepared by dispersing CNTs in the 1.5 wt%

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FPU/PU solution with ultrasonic treatment for 12 h. The contents of CNTs with respect to the

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polymers weight were 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0 %, respectively.

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2.4. Solutions properties. Electrical conductivity was measured using a conductivity

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meter (FE30, Mettler-Toledo Group, Switzerland). Viscosity was tested using a viscometer

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(SNB-1A, Shanghai Fangrui Instrument Co., Ltd., China) with spindle No. 21 at 50 rpm, and

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surface tension was determined with tensiometer (QBZY, Shanghai Fangrui Instrument Co.,

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Ltd., China) at ambient temperature.

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2.5. Fabrication of the membranes. The fibrous membranes were fabricated via

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electrospinning using the DXES-1 spinning equipment (Shanghai Oriental Flying

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Nanotechnology Co., Ltd., China). Typically, the solution was loaded into a syringe and

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injected through a metal needle with a controlled feed rate of 5 mL/h. A high voltage of 25

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kV was applied to the needle tip, resulting in the generation of a continuous jet stream. The

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fibrous membranes were deposited on a grounded metallic rotating roller at a 20 cm tip-to-

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collector distance, and then dried in vacuum oven for 2 h at 80 oC to remove the residual

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solvent. The electrospinning chamber was kept at a constant temperature (25 oC) and relative

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humidity (50%). All the membranes were fabricated within an identical thickness of 30 ± 2

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µm. The obtained membranes from the FPU/PU solutions were denoted as FPU/PU fibrous

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membranes, and the ones fabricated from the 1.5 wt% FPU/PU solutions containing different

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CNTs contents were denoted as FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes. Nonporous membranes

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with smooth surface were prepared using the dry-casting method. Typically, the polymers

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solutions were cast uniformly on a glass plate, and were dried in a vacuum oven at 80 oC.

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2.6. Characterization of the membranes. The morphology of the fibrous membranes was

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observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, S-4800, Hitachi Ltd.,

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Japan), all samples were coated with gold for 2min before analysis. The tensile mechanical

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property was measured on a tensile tester (XQ-1C, Shanghai New Fiber Instrument Co., Ltd.,

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China) with a crosshead speed of 10 mm min-1. The membranes were cut into strips with

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width of 3 mm as testing samples, and the results were average value of ten samples from

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each fibrous membrane. The bursting mechanical property was tested on a materials testing

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machine (H10K-S, Tiniius Olsen Co., Ltd., USA) according to ISO 3303. Circular samples

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with diameter of 4.5 cm fixed on the machine, and a steel ball was perpendicularly pressed on

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the membrane with an advancing speed of 300 mm min-1, the results were average value of

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five samples for each fibrous membrane. Advancing water contact angle (θadv, 5 µL) of the

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membranes were measured by a contact angle goniometer Kino SL200B using the increment

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method. Thickness was measured by a thickness gauge (CHY-C2, Labthink Instruments Co.,

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Ltd., China). The pore size was characterized via bubble point method using a capillary flow

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porometer (CFP-1100AI, Porous Materials Inc., USA). Porosity of the fibrous membranes

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were calculated as: porosity =

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( D 0 − D1) ×100% D0

(1)

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where D0 was the density of the raw PU materials, D1 was the density of the obtained fibrous

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membranes.26

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2.7. Measurements of waterproof and breathable performance. The waterproofness of

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the membranes were investigated by examining hydrostatic pressure of water penetration,

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according to AATCC 127 standard test method for water penetration by using a hydrostatic

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pressure tester (YG812C, Nantong Hongda Experiment Instruments Co., Ltd., China). The

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samples were covered by a Nylon woven fabric to avoid deformation, and the water pressure

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increasing rate is 6 kPa/min. The breathable performance was evaluated by measuring the

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WVT rate according to ASTM E96-CaCl2 standards desiccant method by using a water vapor

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transmission tester (YG 601H, Ningbo Textile Instruments Co., Ltd., China), under constant

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temperature of 38 oC and relative humidity of 90%.

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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

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3.1. FPU/PU fibrous membranes. In order to obtain membranes with waterproof and

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breathable properties, in the present work we designed hydrophobic fibrous membranes using

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FPU and PU mixed solutions with different polymers concentrations (1.0-4.5 wt%). The

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representative FE-SEM images of FPU/PU fibrous membranes obtained by varying the

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polymers concentrations of FPU/PU solutions are presented in Figure 1 and S5 (Supporting

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Information), revealing that the fibers oriented randomly to form three-dimensional

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macroporous structures, which could serve as interconnected passageway for water and

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vapor. When FPU/PU fibrous membrane was fabricated from 1.0 wt% polymers solution,

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bead-on-string structures could be clearly observed (as shown in Figure 1a), which

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constructed with thin fibers (average diameter of 162 nm, Table S1, Supporting Information)

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and numerous micro-sized elliptical beads (average diameter of 1.46 µm) along the fiber axis.

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This structure could be caused by the employment of solutions with low polymers

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concentration and low viscosity (as shown in Table S1, Supporting Information), which

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induced the instable whipping of solution jet during electrospinning.27-28 However, affected

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by the solutions viscosity, the increase of polymers concentrations from 1.0 to 1.5 wt% led to

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disappearance of beads and increased fiber diameter (272 nm), as presented in Figure 1b.

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Further increase of polymers concentration from 2.5 to 4.5 wt% resulted in gradual increase

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of fiber diameter from 757 to 3124 nm (shown in Figure 1c-d and Figure S5, Supporting

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Information). Meanwhile, adhesion structures among the adjacent fibers could be observed

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obviously in all the samples, which could be formed due to the incomplete evaporation of

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DMF used as good solvent for both FPU and PU.29-30 The formation of adhesion structure

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made the electrospun fibers into a dimensionally stable network, which would improve the

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mechanical properties of the membranes.

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Figure 1. Morphology, mechanical properties and pore structure of FPU/PU fibrous

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membranes. FE-SEM images of FPU/PU fibrous membranes fabricated from polymers

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solutions with different concentrations: (a) 1.0 wt%, (b) 1.5 wt%, (c) 2.5 wt%, and (d) 3.5

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wt%, respectively. (e) Bursting strength and elongation, (f) tensile strength and elongation at

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break, (g) dmax and porosity of FPU/PU fibrous membranes fabricated from polymers

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solutions with different concentrations. The FPU/PU weight ratio was kept 1:8.

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Owing to the structure transformation of the fibers and the existence of adhesion structures,

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mechanical properties of the fibrous membranes would be affected distinctly, which were

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evaluated by measuring bursting strength normal to the long axis and tensile strength along

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the long axis of the membranes.31 As shown in Figure 1e, the FPU/PU fibrous membrane

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formed from 1.0 wt% polymers solution exhibits the minimum bursting strength (15.6 kPa)

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and elongation (15.6 mm), which is mainly due to the bead-on-string structures and small

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fiber diameter that could not afford high external stress.2, 31 However, with the disappearance

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of beads and the increase of fiber diameter, the membranes fabricated from higher polymers

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concentrations exhibit enhanced bursting strength up to 65.2 kPa and increased elongation up

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to 40.3 mm (details are presented in Table S2, Supporting Information). Similarly, the

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minimum tensile strength (4.1 MPa) and elongation (129.1%) was observed at the polymers

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concentrations of 1.0 wt%, as shown in Figure 1f. Moreover, a sharp increase of tensile

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mechanical properties could be observed with the polymers concentration increasing to 1.5

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wt% according to the transformation of fibers structure, wherein, the tensile strength at break

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is 7.8 MPa and the elongation is 255.1%. Further increase of polymers concentrations to 4.5

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wt% resulted in sizable increased tensile strength up to 12.7 MPa and elongation up to

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469.8% (details are presented in Table S2, Supporting Information). These results

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demonstrate that the mechanical properties could be improved with the increasing of

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concentrations of polymers solutions, which would attributed to the increase of fiber diameter

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that provided stronger individual fibers, as well as the existence of adhesion structures that

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prevented the randomly oriented fibers from pulling apart.32

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In the meantime, the porous structure of FPU/PU fibrous membranes had been changed

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remarkably along with the transformation of fibers structure. Since liquid water would

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preferentially penetrate into a porous media under relative low external pressure through the

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pore with maximum diameter,33-34 maximum pore diameters (dmax) of the FPU/PU fibrous

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membranes were measured via bubble point method. As presented in Figure 1g, with the

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polymers concentrations increased from 1.0 to 4.5 wt%, the dmax of the FPU/PU fibrous

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membranes increased from 1.57 to 5.39 µm (details are shown in Table S3, Supporting

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Information), which could be attributed to the accumulating of thicker fibers that formed

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larger space among the adjacent fibers.35 Additionally, the porosity of the membranes were

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calculated as well, which would stand for the capacity of interconnected passageway. As

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shown in Figure 1g, the porosity of FPU/PU fibrous membranes decreased from 45.8% to

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35.2% (details are shown in Table S3, Supporting Information)with the of polymers

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concentrations increasing from 1.0 to 4.5 wt%. These transmission of porosity could be

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related to the thicker fibers and higher adhesion rate that took over more space among fibers,

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which is consistent well with the precious studies.36-37

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More interestingly, it also should be noticed that hierarchical surface structures with

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micro/nanoscale wrinkles are clearly visible in the close observations of all samples (insets in

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Figure 1a-d). The formation of these structures would be attributed to the low surface tension

258

and electrical repulsion of solution jet containing FPU as low surface energy content, which

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generated collapse on the fluid jet surface during fast phase separation, similar to our

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previous reports.17, 38 It is noteworthy that the cooperation of low surface energy additive and

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hierarchical surface structure is considered to be strategic factor for surface hydrophobicity,

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attributing to the entrapped air among the wrinkles like a repulsive cushion to water droplets,

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as stated previously. As expected, all the FPU/PU fibrous membranes exhibited hydrophobic

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surface with θadv reached up to 146 ± 2o (as shown in Table S4, Supporting Information),

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which would contribute to the resistance to liquid water penetration.17, 39 Furthermore, θadv of

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dry-casting membranes were also tested, which could exclude the effect of macro-sized

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surface morphology of the membranes and represent the surface properties of the inner pores.

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As shown in Table S4, the θadv of the all the dry-casting membranes were 117o, which colud

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be propitious to stimulate the flow process of liquid water in the pores.40

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Figure 2. Waterproof and breathable properties of FPU/PU fibrous membranes. (a)

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Hydrostatic pressure and (b) WVT rate of FPU/PU fibrous membranes fabricated from

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polymers solutions with various concentrations. The inset in (a) showing the relationship

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among hydrostatic pressure, dmax and θadv.

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Benefiting from hydrophobic properties, FPU/PU fibrous membranes were endowed with

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waterproofness, which was evaluated by measuring the hydrostatic pressure for water

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penetration. As presented in Figure 2a, FPU/PU fibrous membrane obtained from 1.0 wt%

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polymers solution exhibits the best waterproofness with hydrostatic pressure of 84.2 kPa.

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Subsequently, with the increase of polymers concentration to 1.5 wt%, the hydrostatic

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pressure goes down slightly to 81.1 kPa. And further increase of polymers concentrations

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resulted in dramatically decrease of hydrostatic pressure. Since all the membranes exhibit

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similar wettability, the decreased hydrostatic pressure of membranes obtained from higher

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polymers concentrations should be mainly attributed to the enormous increased dmax, which

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would be penetrated under lower external water pressure.41 Further investigation of the

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relationship among hydrostatic pressure, hydrophobicity and pore size was carried out by

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employing the Young-Laplace equation, which is commonly used to express the liquid enter

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pressure of a cylindrical capillary:

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4γ ⋅ cosθ adv d max

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where P is the hydrostatic pressure, γ is the surface tension of water, θadv is the advancing

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water contact angle of dry-casting membranes, and dmax is the diameter of the maximum

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pores.42-43 Significantly, as shown in the inset in Figure 2a, the relationship among

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hydrostatic pressure, dmax and θadv has been confirmed finely accordance with the Young-

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Laplace equation.

P=−

(2)

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On the other hand, the macroporous structure in FPU/PU fibrous membranes would play a

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role as interconnected passageway for water vapor transmitting across the membranes, which

296

perform as breathability of membranes. Therefore, WVT rate of FPU/PU fibrous membranes

297

obtained from different polymers concentrations had been measured to estimate the

298

breathability. As shown in Figure 2b, the WVT rate of the fibrous membranes decreased from

299

9.2 to 7.3 kg m-2 d-1 gradually with the increase of polymers concentrations, revealing

300

impaired breathability. This would be attributed to that membranes with lower porosity

301

possess less interconnected passageway for water vapor transmission.36, 44 Considering the

302

practical application, the membranes should not only possess good mechanical properties, but

303

also exhibit high waterproof and breathable performance. Since lower polymers

304

concentration (1.5 wt%) could lead to

306

inappropriate porous structure and remarkable reduction of waterproof and breathable

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performance, the FPU/PU fibrous membranes fabricated from 1.5 wt% polymers solution

308

would be carried out in the following study.

309

3.2. FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes. To further explore the applicability of the

310

fibrous membranes for waterproof and breathable application, herein, FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous

311

membranes containing various CNTs contents (0-1.0% with respect to polymers weight) were

312

investigated, the polymers concentration of the solutions were kept 1.5 wt%. In order to study

313

the morphology transformation generated from the addition of CNTs, a comparison between

314

FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes containing 0% and 0.75% CNTs was investigated by FE-

315

SEM images and cross section images, as shown in Figure 3a-d. The FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous

316

membranes without CNTs loading exhibits fiber diameter of 272 nm (as described above)

317

and broad fiber diameter distribution ranging from 140 to 440 nm (as shown in Figure 3e),

318

which could be attributed to the conductivity and viscosity of 1.5 wt% polymers solutions

319

that is appropriate for the disappearance of beads but not adequate for effective stretching of

320

solution jet to provide uniform fibers.28 However, the FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes

321

containing 0.75% CNTs reveals thinner fiber diameter of 180 nm (Figure 3b) and narrower

322

fiber diameter distribution ranging from 100 to 310 nm (as shown in Figure 3e). This would

323

be related to the increased conductivity that could inspired the stretching effect during

324

electrospinning process, as well as the slightly increased viscosity that could afford more

325

intense whipping.45-46

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326 327

Figure 3. Structure of FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes. FE-SEM images of FPU/PU/CNTs

328

fibrous membranes containing different CNTs contents: (a) 0% and (b) 0.75%. Cross section

329

images of FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes containing different CNTs contents: (c) 0% and

330

(d) 0.75%. (e) Fiber diameter distribution of FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes containing

331

0% and 0.75% CNTs. (f) Pore size distribution, (g) dmax and porosity of FPU/PU/CNTs

332

fibrous membranes containing various contents of CNTs. The FPU/PU concentration of all

333

the solutions was kept 1.5 wt%, and the FPU/PU weight ratio was kept 1:8.

334

At the meantime, the macroporous structure FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes containing

335

0% and 0.75% CNTs was investigated by FE-SEM cross section images, revealing that the

336

fibers accumulated layer-by-layer to construct interconnected porous structures, as shown in

337

Figure 3c and d. As can be seen in Figure 3c, the fibrous membranes containing 0% CNTs

338

exhibits irregular porous structure with pore size distribution from 0.40 to 1.77 µm (as shown

339

in Figure 3f), which is related to the accumulation of fibers with un-uniformed diameter.

340

However, more regular porous structure with pore size distribution from 0.58 to 1.40 µm (as

341

shown in Figure 3f) would be observed in the membranes containing 0.75% CNTs. It is

342

mainly due to the increased solutions conductivity, which not only generated fibers with

343

uniform diameter, but also brought about densely accumulated fibers.47-48 Similar

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transformation also occurred in the other FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes with various

345

CNTs concentrations (as shown in Figure S6, Supporting Information). Accordingly,

346

benefiting from the introduction of CNTs and the transformation of fiber diameter, the dmax of

347

FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes decreased from 1.77to 1.40 µm gradually, and the

348

porosity increased slightly from 43.4% to 45.5% (as shown in Figure 5g and Table S3,

349

Supporting Information).

350

Moreover, with the addition of CNTs, more rough structure had been formed on the

351

surface of fibers (as can be seen in Figure 3d), which is similar to the previous studies and

352

would influence the hydrophobicity of the inner pores.49 As a result, θadv of the fibrous

353

membranes and the dry-casting membranes increased to 155o and 122o, respectively, as

354

shown in Table S4 and Figure S7 (Supporting Information), indicating an increased

355

hydrophobicity which would lead to higher resistance to water penetration.

356

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357

Figure 4. Waterproof and breathable properties of FPU/PU fibrous membranes. (a)

358

Hydrostatic pressure and (b) WVT rate of FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes containing

359

various contents of CNTs. The inset in (a) is the relationship among hydrostatic pressure, dmax

360

and θadv.

361

As expected, the optimized porous structure and improved surface hydrophobicity have led

362

to better waterproofness. As shown in Figure 4a, the hydrostatic pressure of FPU/PU/CNTs

363

fibrous membranes with 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1.0% CNTs were 98, 104, 108, and 109

364

kPa, respectively, which increased regularly with the decreasing of dmax and the increasing of

365

θadv. Furthermore, as can be seen in the inset of Figure 4a, the relationship among hydrostatic

366

pressure, dmax and θadv is finely conformed to the Young-Laplace equation.23-24 Meanwhile,

367

with the contents of CNTs increasing from 0% to 1.0%, the WVT rate increased from 8.8 to

368

9.3 kg m-2 d-1, as presented in Figure 4b. This would be attributed to that membranes with

369

higher porosity could provide more interconnected passageway for vapor transmission, which

370

exhibit better breathability. More interestingly, a demonstration of waterproofness and

371

breathable performances has been presented in Figure S8 (Supporting Information), wherein,

372

the FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membrane was covered on a beaker with boiling water, and three

373

placed water droplets could not penetrate into the membrane while massive vapor transmitted

374

facilely through the membrane. Significantly, the optimized FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous

375

membranes exhibit better comprehensive performance in comparison of the conventional

376

waterproof and breathable materials, as presented in Figure S9 (Supporting Information).

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Figure 5. Mechanical properties of FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes. (a) Bursting strength

379

and elongation, (b) tensile stress-strain curves of the FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes

380

containing different contents of CNTs. (c) Proposed break mechanism of tensile fracture

381

process upon external stress. (d)-(g) In-situ SEM images of stretching process of the

382

FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes containing 0.75% CNTs with different elongation: (d)

383

0%, (e) 50%, (f) 150% and (g) 300%, respectively.

384

Mechanical properties are important factors in practical application of waterproof and

385

breathable membranes, which would be notably influenced by the loading of CNTs. one of

386

the mechanical properties is bursting strength which would directly characterize the

387

resistance to external pressure perpendicular to the membranes. As shown in Figure 5a, with

388

the CNTs increasing to 0.75 %, the bursting strength increased to 47.6 kPa, which would

389

related to the reinforcement of CNTs (details are shown in Table S2, Supporting

390

Information).46,

391

strength of 30.0 kPa. This could mainly due to beads structure formed by the agglomeration

392

of CNTs at higher content (as shown in Figure S10, Supporting Information), which would

393

serve as stress concentrations that break prematurely.51-52 Meanwhile, the elongation of the

50

However, further increase of CNTs to 1.0% led to decreased bursting

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394

membranes decreased gradually with higher loadings of CNTs, indicating that the membranes

395

would exhibit better dimensional stability under external water pressure.

396

At the same time, tensile strength is another mechanical property which would be

397

significant to the subsequent process of the membranes. Figure 5b presents the typical tensile

398

stress-strain curves of FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes containing various CNTs contents.

399

Similar to the bursting mechanical property, the membranes demonstrated increased tensile

400

strength from 7.8 to 12.5 MPa with the content of CNTs increasing to 0.75%, which revealed

401

the reinforcement effect of CNTs46, 50. However, owing to the agglomeration of CNTs with

402

content of 1.0%, a reduction of tensile strength to 11.7 MPa could be observed. Moreover, all

403

samples reveal same nonlinear curve shape with little elongation under small stress loading

404

(Stage 1 in Figure 5b) and large elongation under little further increase of stress until broken

405

(Stage 2 in Figure 5b). This phenomenon could be illustrated by the two-step break

406

mechanism (as shown in Figure 5c), which has been demonstrated by in-situ FEM images of

407

the stretching process (Figure 5d-g). When a small external stress was loaded, nonaligned

408

fibers (Figure 5d) between bonding points started to orientate (Figure 5e), which led to little

409

elongation. With continual increasing of tensile stress, the nonbonding fibers slipping apart,

410

while the fibers between bonding points undertook the stress and became orientated and

411

thinner (Figure 5f), which resulted in rapid increase of elongation. Finally, the fibrous

412

membranes broke due to the fracture of fibers between bonding points, which was marked

413

with yellow circle (Figure 5g). Consequently, the above waterproof, breathable and

414

mechanical properties suggest the FPU/PU/CNTS fibrous membrane as a promising

415

candidate for a variety of potential applications, such as protective clothing, filter and

416

separator media, and medical supplies.

417

4. CONCLUSIONS

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In summary, we have described the fabrication of FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes

419

exhibiting excellent waterproof and breathable performance. The introduction of FPU and

420

CNTs endowed the resultant membranes with hydrophobic surface properties. Uniform pore

421

structure and decreased maximum pore diameter were obtained with the addition of CNTs.

422

Significantly, the dependence of hydrostatic pressure on dmax and θadv was confirmed to be

423

finely accordance with the Young-Laplace equation. Consequently, the as-prepared

424

membranes containing 0.75% CNTs exhibited excellent waterproofness of 108 kPa, high

425

water vapor transmission rate of 9.2 kg m-2 d-1, as well as good mechanical properties with

426

bursting strength of 47.6 kPa and tensile strength of 12.5 MPa. These properties suggest the

427

FPU/PU/CNTS fibrous membrane as a promising candidate for a variety of potential

428

applications, such as protective clothing, filter and separator media.

429 430

ASSOCIATIED CONTENT

431

Supporting information. Schematic diagram illustrating the strategy for synthesis of FPU

432

(Figure S1), 1H NMR spectrum of FPU (Figure S2), 19F NMR spectrum of FPU (Figure S3),

433

FT-IR spectrum of FPU (Figure S4), FE-SEM image of FPU/PU fibrous membrane

434

fabricated from 4.5 wt% polymers solution (Figure S5), compositions and properties of the

435

polymers solutions (Table S1), mechanical properties of the fibrous membranes (Table S2),

436

dmax and porosity of the fibrous membranes (Table S3), θadv of fibrous membranes and dry-

437

casting membranes (Table S4), pore size distribution of FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membranes

438

containing 0.25%, 0.5%, and 0.75% CNTs (Figure S6), θadv of the FPU/PU/CNTs dry-casting

439

membranes (Figure S7), a demonstration of waterproof and breathable performance (Figure

440

S8), a comparison of waterproof and breathable properties between current materials and

441

FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membrane containing 0.75% CNTs (Figure S9), FE-SEM image of

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442

FPU/PU/CNTs fibrous membrane containing 1.0 % CNTs (Figure S10). This material is

443

available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

444 445

AUTHOR INFORMATION

446

Corresponding Author

447 448 449 450

*

Prof. Bin Ding, Email: [email protected].

Author Contributions The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors. All authors have given approval to the final version of the manuscript.

451 452

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

453

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.

454

51473030 and 51322304), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and

455

the “DHU Distinguished Young Professor Program”.

456 457 458 459

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(51) Su, Z. Q.; Li, J. F.; Li, Q.; Ni, T. Y.; Wei, G. Chain Conformation, Crystallization

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