Multifunctional, Waterproof and Breathable Nanofibrous Textiles Based on Fluorine-Free, All-Water-Based Coatings.

Developing environmentally benign, multifunctional waterproof and breathable membranes (WBMs) is of great importance but still faces enormous challenge. Here, an environmentally benign fluorine-free, ultraviolet (UV) blocking and antibacterial WBM with high level of waterproofness and breathability is developed in large scale by combining electrospinning and step-by-step surface coating technology. Fluorine-free water-based alkylacrylates (WBA) with long hydrocarbon chains was coated onto polyamide 6 (PA-6) fibrous membranes to construct robust hydrophobic surface. The subsequent titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) emulsion coating prominently decreased the maximum pore size leading to higher water resistance, meanwhile endowed the membranes with efficient UV-resistant and antibacterial properties. The resulting fibrous membranes possessed excellent waterproofness of 106.2 kPa, exceptional breathability of 10.3 kg m-2 d-1, significant UV protection factor (UPF) of 430.5, together with definite bactericidal efficiency of 99.9%. We expect this methodology for construction of environmentally benign and multifunctional WBMs will shed light on the materials design, and the prepared membranes could implement their promising applications in covering materials, outdoor equipment, protective clothing and high-altitude garments.