Electrospinning Ag-TiO2 Nanorod-Loaded Air Treatment Filters and Their Applications in Air Purification

The efficient treatment of the problem of air pollution is a practical issue related to human health. The development of multi-functional air treatment filters, which can remove various kinds of pollutants, including particulate matter (PM) and organic gases, is a tireless pursuit aiming to address the actual needs of humans. Advanced materials and nano-manufacturing technology have brought about the opportunity to change conventional air filters for practical demands, with the aim of achieving the high-efficiency utilization of photons, a strong catalytic ability, and the synergetic degradation of multi-pollutants. In this work, visible-responding photocatalytic air treatment filters were prepared and combined with a fast and cost-effective electrospinning process. Firstly, we synthesized Ag-loaded TiO2 nanorod composites with a controlled size and number of loaded Ag nanoparticles. Then, multi-functional air treatment filters were designed by loading catalysts on electrospinning nanofibers combined with a programmable brush. We found that such Ag-TiO2 nanorod composite-loaded nanofibers displayed prominent PM filtration (similar to 90%) and the degradation of organic pollutants (above 90%). The superior performance of purification could be demonstrated in two aspects. One was the improvement of the adsorption of pollutants derived from the increase of the specific surface area after the loading of catalysts, and the other was the plasmonic hot carriers, which induced a broadening of the optical absorption in the visible light range, meaning that many more photons were utilized effectively. The designed air treatment filters with synergistic effects for eliminating both PM and organic pollutants have promising potential for the future design and application of novel air treatment devices.

空气污染问题的有效处理是与人类健康相关的实际问题。能够去除各种污染物（包括颗粒物（PM）和有机气体）的多功能空气处理过滤器的开发是不懈的追求，旨在满足人类的实际需求。先进的材料和纳米制造技术为根据实际需要更换传统的空气滤清器提供了机会，目的是实现光子的高效利用，强大的催化能力以及多种污染物的协同降解作用。在这项工作中，制备了可见光响应的光催化空气处理过滤器，并将其与快速且经济高效的静电纺丝工艺相结合。首先，我们合成了负载Ag纳米颗粒的尺寸和数量可控的负载Ag的TiO2纳米棒复合材料。然后，通过将催化剂负载在电纺纳米纤维上并结合可编程刷，设计出多功能空气处理过滤器。我们发现，这种负载有Ag-TiO2纳米棒复合材料的纳米纤维表现出显着的PM过滤（接近90％）和有机污染物的降解（超过90％）。纯化的优越性能可以从两个方面得到证明。一种是由于催化剂负载后比表面积增加而导致的污染物吸附的改善，另一种是等离子体热载体，它引起了可见光范围内光吸收的扩大，这意味着许多有效地利用了更多的光子。设计的具有协同效应以消除PM和有机污染物的空气过滤器在未来设计和应用新型空气处理设备方面具有广阔的发展潜力。

Published: 2020

Journal ：BIOMACROMOLECULES

Impact Factor：6.323

Paper link: https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/15/3369