Preparation of a polyacrylonitrile/polyurethane nanofibrous membrane with antibacterial function and measurement of its air filtration performance

Particulate matter and airborne microorganism pollution are two of the most serious indoor air problems due to their significant threat to human health. Research on air filtration with antibacterial function and good filtration performance is highly desirable and urgent. In this study, polyacrylonitrile/polyurethane (PAN/PU) composite nanofibrous membranes with an antibacterial agent AgTiO2 were prepared by an electrospinning method. The average diameter of each membrane is about 300-400 nm. The antibacterial activities of PAN/PU composite nanofibrous membranes against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were investigated by the shake flask method. For an Ag2.5 membrane (AgTiO2 added to 2.5% w/w of solute (PAN and PU) in the electrospinning solution), the bacteriostasis rate can be >99.99%. The filtration efficiency is 99.88% for 0.3 mu m particles and >99.99% for airborne microorganisms with a 220.3 Pa pressure differential. The quality factor is higher than that of a commercial filter with comparable filtration efficiency. The effects of relevant parameters on filtration performance were analysed qualitatively by theoretical calculation. The results show that it is more effective to improve the filtration performance by adjusting fibre diameter and filling rate than thickness. Our findings suggest that the nanofibrous membrane with antibacterial function has a great potential for indoor air filtration.

颗粒物和空气传播的微生物污染是室内空气中最严重的两个问题，因为它们对人类健康构成重大威胁。具有抗菌功能和良好的过滤性能的空气过滤的研究是非常需要和紧迫的。在这项研究中，通过静电纺丝法制备了具有抗菌剂AgTiO2的聚丙烯腈/聚氨酯（PAN / PU）复合纳米纤维膜。每个膜的平均直径为约300-400nm。用摇瓶法研究了PAN / PU复合纳米纤维膜对大肠杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌的抗菌活性。对于Ag2.5膜（在电纺丝溶液中将AgTiO2添加到2.5％w / w的溶质（PAN和PU）中），其抑菌率可以> 99.99％。 0.3微米颗粒的过滤效率为99.88％，压差为220.3 Pa的空气传播微生物的过滤效率为> 99.99％。品质因数高于具有类似过滤效率的商用过滤器。通过理论计算定性分析了相关参数对过滤性能的影响。结果表明，通过调节纤维直径和填充率比厚度更有效地提高过滤性能。我们的发现表明，具有抗菌功能的纳米纤维膜在室内空气过滤方面具有巨大潜力。

Published: 2019

Journal ：INDOOR AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Impact Factor：2.338

Paper link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1420326X18816353