Silk fibroin fibers-based shape memory membrane with Janus wettability for multitiered wearable protection

Yue Zhang; Jiahui Zhou; Heli Deng; Ying Fang; Na Qiao; Meng Ren; Yufan Zhang; Desuo Zhang; Hong Lin; Yuyue Chen; Ken Tye Yong; Jiaqing Xiong

doi:10.1557/s43578-022-00805-w

Silk fibroin fibers-based shape memory membrane with Janus wettability for multitiered wearable protection

J Mater Res. 2023;38(3):633-643. doi: 10.1557/s43578-022-00805-w. Epub 2023 Jan 31.

Authors

Yue Zhang^#¹, Jiahui Zhou^#¹, Heli Deng¹, Ying Fang¹, Na Qiao¹, Meng Ren¹, Yufan Zhang², Desuo Zhang^{1

3}, Hong Lin¹, Yuyue Chen¹, Ken Tye Yong⁴, Jiaqing Xiong²

Affiliations

¹ College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123 China.
² Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620 China.
³ National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123 China.
⁴ School of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Realizing breathable shape memory fiber-based material with antibacterial and waterproof performances is important for multitiered wearable protection to address the increasing concerns of air pollution. Herein, using an alternating electrospinning-electrospraying technology, we develop a fiber-based membrane with Janus wettability based on a silk fibroin nanofibers-substrate (SFNFs), a polyurethane nanospheres-top layer (PUNSs), and a middle layer of PU nanofibers-mat with in-situ grown silver nanoparticles (PUNFs-AgNPs), which serves separately for skin contact, a self-cleaning physical barrier to resist external aerosol/bacteria (PM2.5 filtration efficiency ~ 98.1%), and a bio-barrier that can sterilize harmful particles and inhibit bacteria proliferation (> 95%). This breathable Janus film (SFNFs/PUNFs-AgNPs/PUNSs, SPAP) with an antibacterial filter shows shape memory stretchability enabled by the thermoplastic PU component, which is mechanically adaptive to human body for wearable protection. This work presents a breathable wearable material for air-filtration and anti-bacteria, promising for applications such as wound dressings, medical masks, protection suits, and multifunctional filters.

Graphical abstract: An alternating electrospinning-electrospraying technology was proposed to achieve a silk fibroin-based antibacterial membrane with Janus wettability, as well as good skin affinity and breathability, which serves well as physical and bio-barriers for water resistance, PM2.5 filtration (~98.1%) and bacteria inhibition (efficiency of 95%). This shape memory Janus membrane can adapt mechanically to human body curvatures for functional wearable protections.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1557/s43578-022-00805-w.

Keywords: Air filtration; Antibacterial; Fiber membrane; Janus wettability; Shape memory; Wearable protection.

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