Often, solid matter is separated from particle-laden flow streams using electrospun filters due to their high specific surface area, good ability to capture aerial particulate matter, and low material costs. Moreover, electrospinning allows incorporating nanoparticles to improve the filter's air filtration efficiency and bacterial removal. Therefore, a new, improved polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers membrane that could be used to remove air pollutants and also with antibacterial activity was developed. We engineered three different filters that are characterized by the different particles embedded in the PAN nanofibers: titanium dioxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), and silver (Ag). Then, their filtration performance was assessed by quantifying the filtration of sodium chloride (NaCl) aerosol particles of 9 to 300 nm in diameter using a scanning mobility particle sizer. The TiO2_F filter displayed the smallest fiber diameter and the highest filtration efficiency (≈100%). Conversely, the Ag_F filter showed the highest quality factor (≈0.06 Pa-1) because of the lower air pressure drop. The resulting Ag_F nanofibers displayed a very good antibacterial activity using an Escherichia coli suspension (108 CFU/mL). Moreover, the quality factor of these membranes was higher than that of the commercially available nanofiber membrane for air filtration.
Keywords: air filtration; electrospinning; nanoparticles.