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A Super-breathable "Woven-like" Protein Nanofabric
Chenfeng Ding1,2, Yiran Guo1, Juejing Liu1
1School of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman 99164, Washington, United States.
ACS Applied Bio Materials
|January 13, 2022
Summary
Researchers developed a super-breathable zein protein nanofabric with a unique woven-like structure. This material offers enhanced mechanical strength and superior filtration efficiency for PM2.5, improving breathability in nanofabrics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Biomaterials Engineering
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Protein nanofabrics offer potential for applications like air filtration due to abundant functional groups.
- Randomly arranged protein nanofibers exhibit poor mechanical properties and high airflow resistance, limiting breathability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a super-breathable protein nanofabric with improved mechanical properties and filtration efficiency.
- To create a unique "woven-like" nanofibrous structure (w-PNF) from zein protein.
Main Methods:
- Electrospinning of charged zein protein nanofibers.
- Utilizing an accumulation effect between nanofibers and collector to form a "woven-like" structure.
- Mechanical testing, airflow resistance measurement, and PM2.5 filtration efficiency analysis.
Main Results:
- The "woven-like" protein nanofabric (w-PNF) demonstrated significantly enhanced tensile strength (3x) and modulus (9x) compared to random structures.
- w-PNF exhibited ultralow airflow resistance (1/12 of nonwoven nanofabric) and high PM2.5 filtration efficiency.
- The material maintained low airflow resistance at significantly higher airflow rates and showed 80% visible-light transparency.
Conclusions:
- A novel strategy for fabricating high-performance, super-breathable protein nanofabrics was established.
- The "woven-like" zein protein nanofabric shows great promise for advanced air filtration and other biomaterial applications.
- This work advances the design and fabrication of biological nanomaterials for improved functionality.
