Facile Fabrication of Environmentally Friendly, Waterproof, and Breathable Nanofibrous Membranes with High UV-Resistant Performance by One-Step Electrospinning

Wearable smart membranes applied in fabrics as a functional core layer, featuring high ultraviolet (UV) resistance, ease of breathability, and desirable waterproof performances, have received much attention. However, using a facile and environmentally friendly process to design such versatile protective materials that have satisfactory comprehensive performances has turned out to be a tremendous challenge and has not yet been reported. Herein, we report a simple and high-efficiency strategy to fabricate waterproof and breathable membranes with outstanding UV-resistant properties by introducing 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (UV9) and hydrophobic nanotitanium dioxide that has been modified with a short-chain fluoroalkylsilane coupling agent (CF3CH2CH2SiCl3, TFPTCS) (named F-TiO2) into a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) solution for facile one-step electrospinning. Because of the addition of F-TiO2 NPs, the waterproof properties of the PVDF nanofibrous membranes were dramatically enhanced; meanwhile, F-TiO2 NPs acted as inorganic UV shields to impart durable UV resistance to the PVDF membranes. Additionally, the organic UV absorber UV9 was utilized to further strengthen the UV-resistant property of the PVDF/F-TiO2 membranes. By slightly adjusting the addition amount of F-TiO2 NPs and UV9, ecofriendly and multifunctional PVDF/F-TiO2/UV9 nanofibrous membranes were systemically optimized with good moisture breathability (10.6 kg m–2 d–1) and waterproof performance (60.2 kPa), satisfactory tensile strength (15.1 MPa), and an outstanding ultraviolet protection factor (UPF value reached up to 1690.7). Such versatile materials would be very suitable for the design of wearable textiles for various applications, especially in outdoor protective clothing and health care and military products.