1 research outputs found
āInsensitiveā to Touch: Fabric-Supported Lubricant-Swollen Polymeric Films for Omniphobic Personal Protective Gear
The use of personal protective gear
made from omniphobic materials that easily shed drops of all sizes
could provide enhanced protection from direct exposure to most liquid-phase
biological and chemical hazards and facilitate the postexposure decontamination
of the gear. In recent literature, lubricated nanostructured fabrics
are seen as attractive candidates for personal protective gear due
to their omniphobic and self-healing characteristics. However, the
ability of these lubricated fabrics to shed low surface tension liquids
after physical contact with other objects in the surrounding, which
is critical in demanding healthcare and military field operations,
has not been investigated. In this work, we investigate the depletion
of oil from lubricated fabrics in contact with highly absorbing porous
media and the resulting changes in the wetting characteristics of
the fabrics by representative low and high surface tension liquids.
In particular, we quantify the loss of the lubricant and the dynamic
contact angles of water and ethanol on lubricated fabrics upon repeated
pressurized contact with highly absorbent cellulose-fiber wipes at
different time intervals. We demonstrate that, in contrast to hydrophobic
nanoparticle coated microfibers, fabrics encapsulated within a polymer
that swells with the lubricant retain the majority of the oil and
are capable of repelling high as well as low surface tension liquids
even upon multiple contacts with the highly absorbing wipes. The fabric
supported lubricant-swollen polymeric films introduced here, therefore,
could provide durable and easy to decontaminate protection against
hazardous biological and chemical liquids