Electrospinning Equipment for Research| Chia seed polysaccharide modifiednanofiber-based hydrogel with hightransmittance and high haze formultifunctional light management

Professor Hou Jiazhi from Jilin University: Chia Seed Polysaccharide-Modified Nanofiber-Based Hydrogel Achieves Multifunctional Light Management

With the rapid development of smart lighting, green buildings, and flexible displays, high-intensity light sources have caused severe light pollution. Light management films with high transmittance, high haze, and high stretchability can modify transmitted light paths while maintaining total luminous flux, providing superior comfort. However, increased haze is often accompanied by significant light loss, making it a major challenge to simultaneously achieve high transmittance, high haze, and flexible stretchability in optical films.

Recently, Professor Hou Jiazhi's team at Jilin University published their latest research titled "Chia seed polysaccharide modified nanofiber-based hydrogel with high transmittance and high haze for multifunctional light management" in *International Journal of Biological Macromolecules*. The researchers prepared patterned polystyrene-co-polyacrylic acid (PS-co-PAA) nanofiber scaffolds via electrospinning, then infiltrated them with polyvinyl alcohol-chia seed mucilage (PVA-CSM) hydrogel followed by freeze-thaw cycles, ultimately obtaining flexible PVA-PA-CSM light management films with high transmittance, high haze, and high stretchability. The hydrophilic acrylic acid segments effectively promoted hydrogel infiltration, while the hydrophobic styrene segments resisted infiltration, helping create numerous pores that induced multi-level light scattering. Further incorporation of natural chia seed mucilage (CSM) significantly enhanced the film's mechanical strength, blue light blocking, and temperature regulation capabilities.The PVA-PA-CSM flexible light management film shows promising application potential in smart lighting and flexible electronics. 

Figure 1: Preparation and potential applications of PVA-PA-CSM film

Figure 2: Macroscopic and microscopic morphology and mechanical properties of PVA-PA-CSM film  

The PS-co-PAA fiber membrane was prepared via electrospinning technology using conductive metal grids as receiving substrates to establish differential electric fields, forming topological structures for efficient light transmission channels. In the hydrogel-infiltrated fiber membrane, nanofibers serve as structural scaffolds while PVA hydrogel acts as the filler material. Additionally, CSM readily forms free hydroxyl groups with water molecules and hydrogen bonds with PVA hydrogel, providing physical support and significantly improving the mechanical properties of PVA-PA-CSM films.

Figure 3:Composition of PVA-PA-CSM film  

Figure 4: Microstructure, wettability, and water retention of PVA-PA-CSM film

Figure 5: Transmittance and haze of different film types under various tensile strains  

The PVA-PA-CSM film demonstrates 82.6% high transmittance and 95.6% haze while exhibiting excellent blue light blocking performance. The film enables controllable adjustment of transmittance and haze under different strain conditions and can significantly reduce potential harm to human eyes from intense light and blue light, demonstrating outstanding and reliable optical characteristics. 

Figure 6: Anti-glare and temperature management performance of PVA-PA-CSM film  

The PVA-PA-CSM film shows superior anti-glare performance, not only significantly reducing potential eye damage from strong light but also effectively improving lighting comfort. This has important application potential for alleviating visual fatigue and enhancing visual comfort. Furthermore, the composite film exhibits good temperature regulation capability, able to reduce ambient temperature by 1.88°C.

Paper link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2025.144080