Controlled release of the insect repellent picaridin from electrospun nylon‐6,6 nanofibers

Abstract

Conventional insect repellent treatments for fibers, fabrics, and garments suffer from limited durability to repeated laundering and, depending on the insecticide, potential irritation, or toxicity. In this work, electrospinning was employed to control the composition of hierarchically structured functional microscale to nanoscale fibers for tunable insect repellent release by physically incorporating picaridin into nylon‐6,6 nanofibers. The size and morphology of nylon fibers were unaffected by picaridin incorporation, even at loading concentrations up to 50 wt%. Picaridin release kinetics were largely dependent on loading concentration and temperature, as picaridin‐nylon intermolecular interactions were minimal affording diffusion based release. Coaxial nanofibers, in which the sheath component has potential to protect additives in the core for more durable fabrics and act as a diffusion barrier for extended release applications, were also developed and demonstrated altered release kinetics compared to monofilament analogues, indicating the capability to further tune release behavior.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 06, 2020
Source ID
10.1002/pat.5028

Entities

People

  • Jeffrey G Lundin
  • Joshua A. Orlicki
  • Justin J. Ryan
  • Riccardo Casalini

Organizations

  • National Research Council
  • Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program
  • United States Army Research Laboratory
  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Polymer Science and Engineering.
  • Toxicology/Environmental Toxicology

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology