International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment
NANCO AND UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE JOINT RESEARCH SESSION ON
NANOTECHNOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
13-14 December, 2010 at Earls Regency, Kandy, Sri Lanka
CLAY NANO PARTICLE EMBEDED NANO
FIBERS FOR UV PROTECED CURTAINS TO BE
USED IN SMART HOUSES WITH NANO
TECHNOLOGY
Research overview
MMT clay nano
particles
UV blocking
property
+
Polymer solution
Polymer composite (PAN/nano clay)
Electro spinning
Nano fiber composite
UPF (ultra violet
protection factor)
Fiber strength
Montmorillonite clay nano particles
 Montmorillonite clay nano particle – layered structure.
Structure of Na- MMT
MMT clay particle layered structure
Paul D.R, Robeson L.M, Polymer nano technology:nano composite, Polymer 49 (2008)
3187–3204
Montmorillonite clay nano particles
and its properties
 Modified nano clay in to polypropylene create active dye
sites.
 can impart flame retardant property to the composite
 Have the UV blocking capability
Light scattering of a material due to change in refractive
index.
 layered structure of a material change the material’s
refractive index.
 Incident light is only attenuated through light scattering.
therefore no absorption will take place.
UV radiation of sunlight
UV - A
UV - B
UV - C
315 – 400 nm
280– 315 nm
100 – 280 nm
Least dangerous
Human skin should be
protected against
3.10 – 3.94 ev
3.94 – 4.43 ev
Most dangerous but
absorbed by atmosphere
4.43- 12.4 ev
Absorbency measurement of Na-MMT
& SL nano clay
Commercial UV absorber :
absorbency 2.25 at 290 nm350 nm
Na- MMT : 1 <absorbency
<1.65 at 290 - 370 nm
SL nano clay : 1 <absorbency
<1.48 at 290 - 400 nm
Absorbance behavior of MMT, SL Clay and
commercial UV blocker
Analysis of UV blocking property of NaMMT & SL nano clay
UV light source
B
A
0.0025M BTB/ 0.2g ZnO
Sample name
A
B
Sample 1
No
UV on for 20 minutes
Sample 2
Na-MMT 1g/1000ml in liquid form to
cover the BTB/ZnO solution
UV on for 20 minutes
Sample 3
Na-MMT in solid form to cover the
BTB/ZnO solution
UV on for 20 minutes
Sample 4
SL Clay 1g/1000ml in liquid form to
cover the BTB/ZnO solution
UV on for 20 minutes
Sample 5
SL clay in solid form to cover the
BTB/ZnO solution
UV on for 20 minutes
Sample 6
No
NO
Annalysis of UV blocking property of
Na-MMT & SL nano clay cont..
UV blocking behavior of Na-MMT and SL Clay in powder and liquid form
Embedding clay nano particles to nano
fibers
Preparation of
polymer solution
PAN +DMF
Electro spinning
(solvent spinning)
Nano fiber composite
PAN: clay – 10:1 +DMF
0kV power supply
Nano fiber web collected
using the electro spinning
-15kV power supply
SEM images of PAN/Clay nano fiber
composite
PAN/ Na-MMT nano fiber
PAN/ SL clay nano fiber
PAN nano fiber
UPF (Ultraviolet protection factor)
 Measures the Ultra Violet protection of the substrate
UVR protection
category
UV Protection factor
Mean % UVR
transmission
Moderate
UPF 10 to 19
10 to 5.1
High
UPF 20 to 29
5 to 3.4
Very high
UPF 30 to 49
3.3 to 2
Maximum
UPF > 50
<2
 Can be performed by measuring the material’s diffuse transmittance in the
ultraviolet (UV) spectrum.
 For textile materials UPF depends on
 Thickness and density of the fabric
 Fabric construction
 Dye and pigments presence in the textile, fiber, yarn
 Chemical structure of the fiber
Comparison of mechanical properties
of nano fiber composite
Nano fiber tensile strength measure mechanism
 Single fiber can be mounted on one end to an
AFM cantilever tip using electron beam-induced
deposition (that served as a force-sensing
element)
Other end glued to the etched tip of a
tungsten wire (using glue and optical
microscope).
 Tensile tests of the fiber can be conducted
inside the SEM vacuum chamber
 Applied force can be calculated from the
observed deflection of the AFM cantilever
E. Zussman, X. Chen et at, Carbon 43 (2005) 2175–2185
Conclusion
 MMT layered nano materials has the UV blocking capability.
 SL nano clay compared to Na-MMT has a good UV blocking capability.
 Nano clay particles embedded nano fibers can be produced using electro spinning
technology.
 Electro spinning technology has low out put and should be further developed to
make fiber composite at bulk level.
 SL nano clay with layered structure can be successfully use to produce curtains with
UV blocking property.
 Future work should focus on following
 Measure the absorbency of the nano fiber composite in the UV spectrum
 Measure the UPF of the fiber composite
 Measure the individual nano composite fiber strength