Preparation and Characterization of a PU/(PAN/PVP) Unidirectional Moisture Transport Fibrous Membrane

The electrostatic spinning process synthesized and prepared a PU/(PAN/PVP) double-layer fibrous membrane with different wettability. In the research, polyethylene pyrrolidone (PVP) was added to increase the hydrophilic property of polyacrylonitrile (PAN). Meanwhile, dopamine was introduced to modify the hydrophobic material to strengthen the polyurethane (PU) fiber film surface wettability. It was found that the hydrophilicity and wettability of the PAN fiber membrane could be improved with the addition of PVP. The wicking height of the PAN/PVP fiber membrane could reach 9.8 cm as the additional amount of PVP was 2 wt %. The liquid moisture management tester was used to characterize the effect of unidirectional wet performance on the thickness ratio of the PAN/PVP fiber membrane and PU fiber membrane. The experimental results show that the unidirectional moisture conductivity reaches as high as 967% with the best effect when (PAN/PVP)/PU thickness ratio was 2:1; a unidirectional wet effect could be achieved as water can be transferred from the PU fiber membrane interface to the PAN/PVP layer.