Dope-dyed polyurethane electrospun nanofibers

AbstractElectrospun polyurethane nanofibrous mats are used in stretchable, flexible, memory and other technical materials. Lately, their potential for aesthetic purposes has been explored, and various dyeing techniques, as an additional process, and the environmental impact have been reported. Herein, the dope dyeing technique of polyurethane electrospun nanofibers with disperse dyes is reported as a part of the electrospinning process. Dope dyeing when compared to other techniques consumes lesser time, reduced cost and environmental impact, and produces better color and uniformity. The preparation of dope solution, electrospinning and post dye curing processes was optimized for producing the colored polyurethane nanofibrous mat. Dope-dyed polyurethane nanofibrous mats produced good colored yield and colorfastness results. Moreover, the morphology of undyed and dyed polyurethane nanofibers was similar as observed in the SEM analysis and presence of the dye molecules were evident in the FTIR analysis.Keywords: Polyurethanenanofiberselectrospinningdope dyeingdisperse dyes AcknowledgmentsAuthors acknowledge Archroma Pakistan Ltd. for providing the dyes and chemicals.Disclosure statementWe declare that we have no conflict of competing, financial or other interest for the research work and data presented in this article.Additional informationFundingThis research work was supported by Higher Education Commission, Pakistan under the ‘National Research Program for University’ project (NRPU-6866) and Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro Pakistan.