High-Density Polyethylene Janus Fibrous Membrane with Enhanced Breathability and Moisture Permeability via PDA...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Polymer Science
• Textile Engineering

Background:

• Functional fibrous membranes are crucial for applications requiring high mechanical properties.
• Existing membranes often face a trade-off between permeability and mechanical strength.
• Enhancing moisture and air permeability while maintaining mechanical integrity is a key challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate Janus fibrous membranes with distinct hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity.
• To improve moisture and air permeability of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) fibrous membranes.
• To achieve these improvements without compromising the mechanical strength of the membranes.

Main Methods:

• Employed a facile float-surface modification strategy.
• Coated one side of HDPE fibrous membranes with polydopamine (PDA) and a superhydrophilic polyelectrolyte.
• Utilized the modified HDPE membranes for performance testing and separation experiments.

Main Results:

• Achieved excellent water transmission rate (577.61 g m⁻² h⁻¹), water vapor transmission rate (WVTR, 131.62 g m⁻² h⁻¹), and gas permeability (17,496 m³ m⁻² h⁻¹ bar⁻¹).
• Demonstrated significantly superior performance compared to commercial Tyvek membranes.
• Maintained outstanding mechanical strength (17.00 MPa tensile strength, 45.49% strain at break) and asymmetric wettability.

Conclusions:

• The facile modification approach successfully created Janus HDPE fibrous membranes with enhanced permeability and retained mechanical strength.
• The developed membranes exhibit asymmetric wettability, demonstrated by successful oil-water mixture separation.
• This method offers a scalable solution for improving HDPE fibrous membranes for apparel and other industrial applications.