Electrospinning is a unique technique to produce fine submicrometric fibers from polymer solution or melt through the application of high electrostatic forces. In particular, the fabrication of rubber nanofibrous membranes by electrospinning has recently attracted significant attention owing to their interesting properties (e.g., superior elasticity, high extensibility, elastic recovery and resilience), and their potential applications in stretchable electronics, (bio)filtration and sensing. However, electrospinning of rubbers and the production of rubber nanofibrous membranes with a stable morphology can be difficult and complicated, due to their high viscoelasticity and low Tg. Herein, two green electrospinning processes are developed to fabricate polybutadiene-based nanofiber membranes: electrospinning of rubber latexes (i.e., using only water as solvent) and electrospinning of liquid polybutadienes (i.e., without the use of any solvent). A photoinduced thiol-ene crosslinking reaction is then applied to the membranes (Figure 1a) in order to increase their stability, as well as to enhance and tune their physico-chemical, thermal and mechanical properties. It is demonstrated that these innovative sustainable processes allow to obtain high-performance morphologically stable, insoluble, mechanically durable, flexible and stretchable nonwoven nanofibrous materials (Figure 1b and c).

Green electrospinning processes to produce shape-stable rubber nanofibrous membranes

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.