Facile Preparation of Fluorine-Free, Heat-Resisting, Breathable, and Waterproof Nanofibrous Membranes from Polymers of Intrinsic Microporosity

Waterproof and breathable membranes (WBMs) are widely applied in garment, electronics, and aerospace, however, it is challenging to fabricate WBMs by a facile and successive strategy with excellent comprehensive properties, including environmental friendliness, heat-resistance, waterproofness, breathability, and mechanical properties. Herein, a straightforward method is developed to fabricate large-sized WBMs with outstanding integrated performance by direct electrospinning of original polymerization solution from polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs). As-prepared nanofibrous WBMs perform comprehensive properties with the absence of fluorine, average nanofiber diameters of 278 nm, waterproofness of 88.7 kPa, breathability of 11.2 kg m(-2) d(-1), tensile strength of 4.2 MPa, and heat-resistance of 200 degrees C, which are superior to most of that reported fluorine-free WBMs. Most significantly, the avoidance of tedious and intermittent fabrication procedures to prepare high-performant WBMs allows the achievement of the successive production, and the high heat-resistance meets the requirement of harsh service conditions. This work not only confirms that PIMs can be a good candidate for preparing high-performant WBMs, but also paves a new version for fabricating environmental benign WBMs in a facile and successive approach.

Automated summary

A simple method is developed in this study to fabricate large-sized WBMs by direct electrospinning of polymerization solution from PIMs, achieving outstanding comprehensive properties including fluorine-free, waterproofness, breathability, and high heat-resistance. This approach avoids tedious and intermittent fabrication procedures, enabling continuous production.