A novel method might turn waste textiles into waterproof clothing coatings that are considerably better for the environment and people to use than the conventional coatings, which are often composed of harmful chemicals and carcinogens.
A Cornell research group led by Juan Hinestroza, the Rebecca Q Morgan ’60 Professor of Fiber Science and Apparel Design in the College of Human Ecology (CHE), developed the low-temperature technique for synthesis of superhydrophobic, or waterproof, coatings.
Hinestroza stated, “If we can prevent one article of clothing from ending up in a landfill, then that will be success.” She mentioned that each American discards between 80 and 100 pounds of clothes yearly. The group’s metal-organic framework (MOF) may be produced at room temperature without the need for the energy-intensive operations of purification or separation of the waste textiles, by utilising more ecologically friendly solvents like water and ethanol.
Yelin Ko, a doctoral student in the field of fiber science, is the first author of “UiO-66 Inspired Superhydrophobic Coatings Fabricated from Discarded Polyester/Spandex Textiles,” which published Sept. 21 in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Hinestroza is senior author; Tamer Uyar, associate professor of fiber science in the Department of Human Centered Design (CHE), is the other co-author.
This study builds on research that was published in 2023 and showed how old clothes could be chemically broken down to generate MOF particles, which might be used in applications such as wrinkle resistance, fire resistance, or anti-bacterial qualities. This proof of concept is being directly applied in the current work.
The chemist Omar Yaghi, who Hinestroza worked with on a Department of Defence grant in the late 2000s, invented the novel structures known as metal-organic frameworks, which were created in this work by chemically breaking down used polyester textiles into a heterogeneous soup that contained polyester molecules and their monomers, dyes, additives, and dirt typically found in used clothing.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/10/waterproof-coating-made-upcycled-textile-waste