Honeycomb-like polysulphone/polyurethane nanofiber filter for the removal of organic/inorganic species from air streams

Nanofiber nonwoven filters, especially those prepared by electrospinning, are of particular interest because of their high filtration efficiency. However, existing electrospun filters suffer from inherent limitations in that both strengths and filtration resistances of the filters leave much to be desired. Herein, we present a novel nonwoven filter that is composed of polysulphone and polyurethane nanofibers. By mimicking the honeycomb structure, a heterogeneous distribution of both fiber diameter and fiber density has been achieved. Compared with nanofiber nonwovens with plain architectures, the honeycomb-like nonwovens possess higher filtration efficiency (similar to 99.939%), better mechanical strength (similar to 105.24 N g(-1)) and improved quality factor (similar to 0.04 Pa-1). The filtration efficiency against both inorganic and organic aerosols is guaranteed through the nanofiber surface geometry and the intrinsic charge-retention capacity of polysulphone. Since the production of this nanofiber filter does not need multistep procedures and can be easily scaled up on a needleless electrospinning device, we anticipate that the strategy of endowing nanofibers with honeycomb texture and charge-retention capacity may lead to the development of advanced fiber filters.

纳米纤维非织造过滤器，尤其是通过静电纺丝制备的非织造过滤器，由于其高过滤效率而特别受关注。然而，现有的电纺过滤器具有固有的局限性，因为过滤器的强度和过滤阻力都非常不理想。在这里，我们提出了一种由聚砜和聚氨酯纳米纤维组成的新型无纺布过滤器。通过模仿蜂窝状结构，已经实现了纤维直径和纤维密度的不均匀分布。与具有普通结构的纳米纤维非织造布相比，蜂窝状非织造布具有更高的过滤效率（约99.939％），更好的机械强度（约105.24 N g（-1））和改进的品质因数（约0.04 Pa-1） 。通过纳米纤维的表面几何形状和聚砜固有的电荷保持能力，可以确保对无机和有机气溶胶的过滤效率。由于这种纳米纤维过滤器的生产不需要多步程序，并且可以轻松地在无针电纺丝设备上按比例放大，因此，我们预计赋予纳米纤维蜂窝状结构和电荷保持能力的策略可能会影响高级纤维过滤器的发展。

Published: 2018

Journal ：JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

Impact Factor：9.520

Paper link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304389418300128