Composite Thermoplastic Polyurethane Nanofiber Membrane in Waterproof and Breathable Application

Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) electrospun membrane is an ideal substrate material, especially in waterproof breathable membranes due to its superior mechanical properties and flexibility. Herein, we fabricate a TPU-based composite membrane by decorating ground polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-derived carbon nanofibers (CNFs) through ultrasonication followed by a dip-coating of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The decorated CNFs can build up roughness on the membrane, and the coated PDMS layer can protect the CNFs from detaching from the membrane and increase the mechanical properties of the composite membrane. The obtained TPU/CNFs/PDMS membrane displays excellent waterproof and breathable ability. Specifically, the air permeability of the composite membrane is 7.38 mm/s, and the moisture permeability amounted to 5610 g/m 2 /day. Besides, the TPU/CNFs/PDMS membrane exhibited an outstanding tensile strength of 19.407 MPa, elongating at a break of 155.76%. This novel TPU-based composite membrane exhibits great application potential in functional fabric, especially for personal protective fabrics.