Self-repairing superhydrophobic microfiber leather leveraging light-triggered release of actives

Microfiber-composed functional synthetic leather is of particular interest because it owns the advantages of good fluffiness, softness, excellent hygroscopicity , the random three-dimensional bundle structure similar to that of natural leather, which grants excellent moisture permeability, air permeability , chemical resistance, waterproof and mildew resistance, and various functions. Typically, the microfiber of functional synthetic leather is obtained through splitting the original sea-island fiber by solvent-induced dissolution and etching of its sea phase, which inevitably leads to the decline of the wettability of the treated leather. Herein, light-triggered functional microcapsules for self-healing wettability of split microfibers have been judiciously designed and developed. These functional microcapsules loaded with fluoroalkyl silane , which are used to coat onto the original sea-island fiber, allow for photocontrol of releasing the superhydrophobic chemical to the coated fibers. Despite the superhydrophobicity of the split fiber would be weakened by the splitting operation, the light-triggered release of fluoroalkyl silane can effectively amend its superhydrophobic properties. The microfiber leather self-repaired by the functional microcapsules exhibits good superhydrophobic performance, excellent self-cleaning ability to dust and RhB solution, high friction resistance (up to 200 rubs), and good UV light self-repairing cycle performance. This study provides a versatile solution for efficiently self-repairing microfiber leathers after the splitting process.