You may have been wondering, “I’ve been hearing the name ‘nanofiber’ for a while now, but what are they?” You might have come across this article while doing your research. For those of you who are interested in nanofibers, let us first briefly review the characteristics of nanofibers!
Nanofibers have three properties that make them ” the material of the future”. For a better understanding of the article, let us briefly explain them here!
As the name suggests, nanofibers are nano- sized ultrafine fibers, meaning they have a larger surface area than other materials! As a result, absorption of gases, liquids, solids, and microorganisms is said to be up to 10,000 times greater.
Nano-sized fibers are less likely to diffusely reflect light and are highly transparent materials. They also have excellent sound absorption and heat insulation properties.
This effect is possible because of the nanofibers’ dense structure, which allows electricity to pass through easily, increasing strength and heat resistance.
For more detailed information, please see our article! “The Fundamentals of Nanofibers.”
How can the three properties I have just described affect our daily lives? I will explain them along with some practical examples we can actually imagine!
By adding nanofibers to the currently used high-toughness fiber reinforced cement composite “ECC”, it is possible to create a “stronger concrete” called “AECC” that is 4.6 times stronger than ECC!
AECC is expected to be used as a building material due to its various properties, such as being “hard like steel but flexible like metal,” “inexpensive and lightweight,” and “rustproof and non- corrosive,” making it possible to build low-cost houses and breakwaters that are resistant to earthquakes, typhoons, and other disasters.
A vacuum can be created by spraying nanofibers onto a material due to the “nano-size effect,” which is a characteristic of nanofibers. Vacuum is impermeable to temperature and sound, so if this is applied to wall materials, rooms can be both soundproofed and heat-proofed! This leads to a reduction in the use of air conditioning, which in turn leads to the construction of an eco-friendly environment.
Nanofibers have heat retention properties, and furthermore, by making nanofibers into thin and durable fabrics, we can create “super thin, yet light and warm clothes”! Since no feathers are involved, these clothes will be eco-friendly from an animal welfare standpoint as well. The same concept can be applied to outdoor goods such as sleeping bags. Nanofibers are also highly transparent fibers, so it may be possible in the near future to “wear transparent clothes to spend time in extremely cold places”!
The “mm (millimeter)” is the unit of length that we usually use to express length. The unit that is 0.001 times the millimeter is the “μm (micrometer). The unit that is 0.001 times larger than the micro is the nm (nanometer). Currently available non-woven masks have a filter that is bigger than 0.1μm viruses, so they use static electricity to catch them. However, nanofiber face masks provide “extremely high filtration performance” that physically blocks viruses by its super specific surface area effect, and they have already started to be widely used in the medical field.
We also sell the nanofiber mask “MIKOTO,” so if you would like to know more about nanofiber masks, please read the following article as well!
Nanofiber Mask “MIKOTO
How was it? In this article, we have described how nanofibers could change our daily lives. These are just a few of the possibilities, and we could go on and on about what nanofibers can do! Please take a look at our other articles!