Superabsorbent Fibers for Comfortable Disposable Medical Protective Clothing

Disposable medical protective clothing for 2019-nCoV mainly consists of stacked layers with nanopore films, polymer coated nonwoven fabrics and melt-blown nonwoven fabrics against anti-microbial and anti-liquid penetration. However, such structures lack moisture permeability and breathability leading to an uncomfortable, stuffy wearing experience. Here, we propose a novel medical protective clothing material with a superabsorbent layer to enhance moisture absorption. Poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide)/polyvinyl alcohol superabsorbent fibers (PAAAM/PVA fibers) were prepared via wet spinning. And the superabsorbent composite layer was stacked from PAAAM/PVA fibers, bamboo pulp fibers (BPF) and ethylene-propylene side by side fibers (ESF). The novel disposable medical protective composite fabric was obtained through gluing the superabsorbent layer to the inner surface of strong antistatic polypropylene nonwoven fabric. The resultant composite fabric possesses excellent absorption and retention capacity for sweat, up to 12.3 g/g and 63.8%, and a maximum hygroscopic rate of 1.04 g/h, higher than that of the conventional material (only 0.53 g/h). The moisture permeability of the novel material reached 12,638.5 g/(m² d), which was 307.6% of the conventional material. The novel material can effectively reduce the humidity inside the protective clothing and significantly improve the comfort of medical staff.