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Nano Research 2022, 15(6): 5695-5704 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4155-3
Research Article | Issue | Published: 29 March 2022

Downy feather-like para-aramid fibers and nonwovens with enhanced absorbency, air filtration and thermal insulation performances

Show Author's Information Kangli Xu1,  Jixia Deng1,  Guangliang Tian1,  Lei Zhan1,  Jiajia Ma1,  Lijun Wang2,  Qinfei Ke1( ),  Chen Huang1( )
Engineering Research Center of Technical Textiles, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
Changshu Weicheng Nonwoven Equipment Co., Ltd., Suzhou215539, China
Keywords:
air filtration, downy feather-like fibers, nanofibrils, para-aramid nonwoven, surface fibrillation, oil absorption
Topics:
Nano device
Cite this article:
Xu K, Deng J, Tian G, et al. Downy feather-like para-aramid fibers and nonwovens with enhanced absorbency, air filtration and thermal insulation performances. Nano Research, 2022, 15(6): 5695-5704. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4155-3
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Fiber morphology with off-standing branches, as found in nature, e.g., in goose downy feather, provides exquisite functions that can be barely achieved by man-made fiber systems. In this work, we develop a simple and scalable method for generating downy feather-like para-aramid fibers and assemblies. Through treating commercial para-aramid microfibers with mild alkaline solution (low concentration of NaOH), a synergistic effect of chemical hydrolysis and physical shearing is successfully triggered to generate abundant nanofiber branches on the surface of para-aramid fibers. When compared with conventional monotonous structures, nonwovens composed of downy feather-like fibers exhibit a typical multiscale fiber morphology, larger specific surface area and smaller pore size, thus showing enhanced particles adsorption capacity (over twice of the pristine nonwoven), excellent oil absorption capacity (increased by ~ 50%), improved air filtration performances (doubled the filtration efficiency) and effective thermal insulation (thermal conductivity = 26.1 mW·m−1·K−1). More attractively, the intrinsic flame-retardant nature of para-aramid is well inherited by the downy feather-like fibers, and the fabrication process requires neither sophisticated equipment, nor tedious procedures, making us believe the strong competitiveness of these fibers and assemblies.


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Abstract
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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Downy feather-like para-aramid fibers and nonwovens with enhanced absorbency, air filtration and thermal insulation performances

Show Author's information Kangli Xu1, Jixia Deng1, Guangliang Tian1, Lei Zhan1, Jiajia Ma1, Lijun Wang2, Qinfei Ke1( ), Chen Huang1( )
Engineering Research Center of Technical Textiles, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
Changshu Weicheng Nonwoven Equipment Co., Ltd., Suzhou215539, China

Abstract

Fiber morphology with off-standing branches, as found in nature, e.g., in goose downy feather, provides exquisite functions that can be barely achieved by man-made fiber systems. In this work, we develop a simple and scalable method for generating downy feather-like para-aramid fibers and assemblies. Through treating commercial para-aramid microfibers with mild alkaline solution (low concentration of NaOH), a synergistic effect of chemical hydrolysis and physical shearing is successfully triggered to generate abundant nanofiber branches on the surface of para-aramid fibers. When compared with conventional monotonous structures, nonwovens composed of downy feather-like fibers exhibit a typical multiscale fiber morphology, larger specific surface area and smaller pore size, thus showing enhanced particles adsorption capacity (over twice of the pristine nonwoven), excellent oil absorption capacity (increased by ~ 50%), improved air filtration performances (doubled the filtration efficiency) and effective thermal insulation (thermal conductivity = 26.1 mW·m−1·K−1). More attractively, the intrinsic flame-retardant nature of para-aramid is well inherited by the downy feather-like fibers, and the fabrication process requires neither sophisticated equipment, nor tedious procedures, making us believe the strong competitiveness of these fibers and assemblies.

Keywords: air filtration, downy feather-like fibers, nanofibrils, para-aramid nonwoven, surface fibrillation, oil absorption

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 26 November 2021
Revised: 23 December 2021
Accepted: 12 January 2022
Published: 29 March 2022
Issue date: April 2022

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© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and Graduate Student Innovation Fund of Donghua University (No. CUSF-DH-D-2020021).

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