Polylactic acid based Janus membranes with asymmetric wettability for directional moisture transport with enhanced UV protective capabilities

Abstract

Efficient directional moisture transport can remove excess sweat away from the human body and keep the body dry; fully utilizing this functionality to improve the wearing experience is urgently needed in the area of functional textiles. Herein, a facile strategy is used to design an eco-friendly and biodegradable PLA membrane with enhanced directional moisture transport and UV protection abilities. The PLA-based Janus membrane with asymmetric wettability is fabricated via sol-gel and electrospinning methods. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2) were anchored onto the surface of the PLA fabric during the TiO2 sol-gel fabrication process using polydopamine, forming superhydrophilic TiO2@PDA-PLA. Then a thin PLA fibrous membrane layer showing hydrophobicity was electrospun onto this (PLA-E). The Janus PLA-E/TiO2@PDA-PLA membrane was successfully fabricated. Due to the asymmetric wettability and anchored TiO2, the PLA-E/TiO2@PDA-PLA Janus membrane exhibits efficient directional moisture transport and excellent UV protection abilities, and this work may provide a new pathway for fabricating multifunctional personal protective materials and have attractive potential applications in the future.