Electrospun silica-based fiber for developing multifunctional protective clothing

Protective clothing should provide comfort for wearers over a wide range of temperatures and adequate protection for body in some harsh environments. In the present work, we prepare lightweight ceramic fibrous mat based on electrospun SiO₂-TiO₂ composite fiber and a barrier between human body and extreme environments can be designed based on the fabric. The non-woven mat with a density of 0.045 g/cm³ exhibits high flexibility and toughness, excellent compressibility with good reproducibility over 1000 cycles, and significantly low thermal conductivity of 0.044 W/m·K at room temperature. The addition of TiO₂ reduces the thermal conductivity and improves the infrared reflection ability of the ceramic hybrid fibrous mat. At the same time, the fiber morphology in the mat can maintain at a high temperature, which expands the application of thermal protective clothing in different environment.