Donghua University

About: Donghua University is a education organization based out in Shanghai, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Fiber & Nanofiber. The organization has 21155 authors who have published 21841 publications receiving 393091 citations. The organization is also known as: Dōnghuá Dàxué & China Textile University.

Co-axial electrospun polystyrene/polyurethane fibres for oil collection from water surface

Abstract: The pollution arising from oil spills is a matter of great concern due to its damaging impacts on the ecological environment, which has created a tremendous need to find more efficient materials for oil spill cleanup. In this work, we reported a sorbent for oil soak-up from a water surface with a high sorption capacity, good selectivity, and excellent reusability based on the hydrophobic-oleophilic fibrous mats that were fabricated via co-axial electrospinning polystyrene (PS) solution as the shell solution and polyurethane (PU) solution as the core solution. The fine structures of as-prepared fibers were regulated by manipulating the spinning voltages, core solution concentrations, and solvent compositions in shell solutions, which were also characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption method, and synchrotron radiation small-angle X-ray scattering. The effects of inter-fiber voids and intra-fiber porosity on oil sorption capacities were well studied. A comparison of oil sorption capacity for the single fiber with different porous structures was also investigated with the help of scanning transmission X-ray microscopy. The results showed that the sorption capacities of the as-prepared sorbent with regards to motor oil and sunflower seed oil can be 64.40 and 47.48 g g(-1), respectively, approximately 2-3 times that of conventional polypropylene (PP) fibers for these two same oils. Even after five sorption cycles, a comparable oil sorption capacity with PP fibers was still maintained, exhibiting an excellent reusability. We believe that the composite PS-PU fibrous mats have a great potential application in wastewater treatment, oil accident remediation and environmental protection.

A Controlled Design of Ripple-Like Polyamide-6 Nanofiber/Nets Membrane for High-Efficiency Air Filter.

Abstract: The filtration capacity of fibrous media for airborne particles is restricted by their thick diameter, low porosity, and limited frontal area. The ability to solve this problem would have broad technological implications for various air filtration applications; despite many past efforts, it remains a great challenge to achieve. Herein, a facile and scalable strategy to fabricate the ripple-like polyamide-6 nanofiber/nets (PA-6 NF/N) air filter via combining electrospinning/netting technique with receiving substrate design is demonstrated. This proposed approach allows the scaffold filaments to orderly embed into 2D PA-6 nanonets layer with Steiner-tree structures and nanoscale diameter of ≈20 nm, resulting in the ripple-like membrane with extremely small pore size, highly porous structure, and hugely extended frontal surface, by facilely adjusting its pleat span and pleat pitch. These unique structural advantages enable the ripple-like PA-6 NF/N filter to filtrate the ultrafine particles with high removal efficiency of 99.996%, low air resistance of 95 Pa, and robust quality factor of >0.11 Pa-1 ; using its superlight weight of 0.9 g m-2 and physical sieving manner. This approach has the potentialities to give rise to a novel generation of filter media displaying enhanced filtration capacity for various applications thanks to their nanoscale features and designed macrostructures.

Facile Fabrication of Uniform Core−Shell Structured Carbon Nanotube−Polyaniline Nanocomposites

Abstract: The effective site-selective interaction between the π-bonds in the aromatic rings of the polyaniline and the graphitic structure of multiwall carbon nanotubes would strongly facilitate the charge-transfer reaction between the two components. We adopted multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with minimal defects as templates and facilely fabricated carbon nanotube−polyaniline nanocomposites with uniform core−shell structures by ultrasonic assisted in situ polymerization. By varying the ratio of aniline monomers and carbon nanotubes, the thickness of polyaniline layers can be effectively controlled. The results indicated that the presence of carbon nanotubes with minimized defects induced the formation of a more planar conformation of polyaniline even when a high weight percent of aniline was loaded. As a result, macroscopically, great improvements in the electrical and electrochemical properties of the resulting nanocomposites were observed.

Super hygroscopic nanofibrous membrane-based moisture pump for solar-driven indoor dehumidification.

Abstract: Desiccants play vital roles in dehumidification and atmospheric water harvesting; however, current desiccants have mediocre hygroscopicity, limited recyclability, and high energy consumption Herein, we report a wood-inspired moisture pump based on electrospun nanofibrous membrane for solar-driven continuous indoor dehumidification The developed moisture pump with multilayer wood-like cellular networks and interconnected open channels is composed of a desiccant layer and a photothermal layer The desiccant layer exhibits an unprecedented moisture absorption capacity of 301 g g−1 at 90% relative humidity (RH), fast moisture absorption and transport rates, enabling atmospheric water harvesting The photothermal layer shows a high solar absorption of 93%, efficient solar thermal conversion, and good moisture permeability, thus promoting water evaporation The moisture pump efficiently reduces the indoor relative humidity to a comfort level (40‒60% RH) under one-sun illumination This work opens the way to develop new-generation, high-performance nanofibrous membrane-based desiccants for energy-efficient humidity control and atmospheric water harvesting Desiccants are important for dehumidification, but application is hindered by limited hygroscopicity, recyclability, and energy efficiency Here, the authors report a moisture pump comprised of an electrospun nanofibrous memebrane for solar-driven continuous indoor dehumidification