Yaewon Park

• Professor (Assistant) at Yonsei University

Cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibers were dipped in alternating solutions of aqueous lanthanum acetate and alkali metal carbonates (for up to 10 cycles) to precipitate lanthanum carbonate. Only sodium carbonate yielded Na–La double-metal carbonates and lanthanum carbonate hydroxide as the cycles of precipitation increased. Potassium and cesi...

Manganese-oxidizing fungi support bioremediation through the conversion of manganese ions into manganese oxide deposits that in turn adsorb manganese and other heavy metal ions from the environment. Manganese-oxidizing fungi were immobilized onto nanofiber surfaces to assist remediation of heavy metal–contaminated water. Two fungal isolates, Coniot...

Back Cover: Regenerated Bombyx (B.) mori silk is processed to increase β‐sheet crystallinity, which dramatically increases the water‐responsive (WR) actuation energy density, surpassing that of all known natural muscles. In article 1900612, Xi Chen and co‐workers find an unexpected relationship between the β‐sheet crystallinity and silk's WR energy...

Water-responsive materials for sustainable energy applications Water-responsive materials that mechanically change their volume in response to changes in relative humidity or a water gradient can generate significantly higher energy actuation compared to natural muscles and conventional actuators. Our proof-of-concept demonstrations have shown the...

Mushroom chitin membranes with controllable pore structures were fabricated through a simple process with naturally abundant Agaricus bisporus mushrooms. A freeze-thaw method was applied to alter the pore structures of the membranes, which consist of chitin fibril clusters within the glucan matrix. With tunable pore size and distribution, mushroom...

Water-responsive materials alter their volumes in response to relative humidity changes. Recent progress in water-responsive materials demonstrates that this novel category of materials can perform better than natural muscles and conventional actuators by utilizing sustainable and renewable water energy. Textile fibers make excellent candidates for...

This research uses common mushrooms to develop self-healable fibers upon exposure to a water droplet within 30 s with high self-healing efficiency. The mushroom fibers with unique self-healing properties that do not require additional energy input, such as heat and electricity, demonstrate great potential for sustainable engineering

Chitinous polymers were extracted from common Agaricus bisporus mushrooms through simple processes, which are successfully formed into continuous fibers with a custom-built laboratory-scale fiber spinning setup. The spun fibers are composed of numerous chitin fibrils embedded within the glucan matrix, and their fiber diameters are controlled by the...

Environmental sustainability has become an essential principle in every industry. Specifically in the fashion and textile industries, regenerated textile fibers are crucial for sustainability and a circular economy. Manufacture of regenerated fibers typically involves dissolution of low-value sources to form polymer solutions followed by processing...

Self-healing fabrics respond to chemical and physical damage by restoring functional, structural, and morphological features. We present a comprehensive review of textile hybrids or composites capable of self-healing and repairing fabrics against damages across the micro- (µm), meso- (µm – mm), and macro-scale (>mm). The reviewed literature is orga...

Water-responsive materials undergo reversible shape changes upon varying humidity levels. These mechanically robust yet flexible structures can exert substantial forces and hold promise as efficient actuators for energy harvesting, adaptive materials and soft robotics. Here we demonstrate that energy transfer during evaporation-induced actuation of...

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-021-00950-3.

In this study, hydroentangled cotton nonwovens were identified as effective hosts for mineralization of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) polymorphs to modify and improve their properties. All cotton varieties studied, including raw white cotton, scoured white cotton, and raw brown cotton, readily crystallized CaCO3 via a simple cyclic dipping process. A c...

Water-responsive (WR) materials that mechanically change volume in response to changes in relative humidity (RH) can generate significantly higher energy actuation over natural muscles and conventional actuators. Recent proof-of-concept demonstrations have shown the great potential of using WR materials as high performance actuator components for v...

Water‐responsive (WR) materials that strongly swell and shrink in response to changes in relative humidity (RH) have shown a great potential to serve as high‐energy actuators for soft robotics and new energy‐harvesting systems. However, the design criteria governing the scalable and high‐efficiency WR actuation remain unclear, and thus inhibit furt...

Al was sputtered onto four substrates: nylon, polyester, cotton/polyester, and shape memory polyurethane nanoweb, and the heat-transfer characteristics of the resultant materials were investigated by surface temperature measurements. The thickness of the Al layer increased linearly with sputtering time. The heat-transfer mechanisms of the multilaye...

TiO2 sol–gel reaction induces nanowrinkling along the surface of electrospun poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanofibers. Nanowrinkling along nanofibers is influenced by electrospinning voltage, degree of nanofiber crosslinking, and the repetitive immersion of nanofibers in TiO2 precursors. Crosslinked nanofibers are dipped in alternating solutions of tit...

We have conducted interdisciplinary research on functional nanofibers for mitigating water contamination with manganese (Mn). Our work resonates with the mission and goal of WRRI and NCSG in that we explore novel materials to provide clean water to North Carolina residents who has limited access to quality water. Our nanofibers will help provide cl...

Polystyrene (PS) has high thermal resistance thus can be applied as thermally comfort-able textile. However, the application is limited due its low mechanical strength. In this study, polyamide 6 (PA6) was blended with PS to improve the mechanical strength of PS, by means of a multi-jet electrospinning. Content ratio of the blend web was measured b...

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is a well-known chemical adsorbent. In this study, anthraquinone dye adsorption by CaCO3 mineralized nanofibers was evaluated in respect of the chemistry and structure of ionic particles that were seeded into fibers. Reacted and unreacted surfmers of polyoxyethylene-1-(alkyloxylmethyl) alkyl ether sulfuric ester ammonium s...

Alkaline hydrolysis is one of the most classic fiber finishing methods, however, its potential as tuning surface superhydrophobicity in mass scale has not been studied much. In this research, fine roughness was formed on the polyester fiber surfaces by alkaline hydrolysis at room temperature and fluorinated polymer mixtures were further coated. The...

Polyurethane (PU) is a unique polymeric material with excellent chemical and physical properties and is widely used in textile materials. There has been a need for superhydrophobic PU for wider applications, such as coating materials. In this research, SiO2 nanoparticle (SNP) incorporated PU webs with superhydrophobic and breathable properties were...

The purpose of this research is to propose a rating model that measures the post-consumer energy consumption, specifically during the washing, drying, and ironing processes of textile products. Prior to designing the rating model, the methodology of sustainability assessment is overviewed, with discussions on textile sector’s efforts in developing...

The purposes of the study are to investigate the electricity and water consumption during the washing machine operations in Europe, China, the USA, and South Korea and to associate those quantitative data with the environmental and economic impacts in terms of CO2 equivalent emission (CO2 eq.) and monetary cost. The consumption data were collected...

This study has identified the quantitative relationship between the level of hydrophobicity and the surface roughness, represented f(1), of superhydrophobic nylon fabrics treated with ZnO nanorods and n-dodecyltrimethoxysilane. With this objective, ZnO nanorods were uniformly grown to give varied particle dimensions on nylon fabrics by a hydrotherm...