Ultrathin, ultralight dual-scale fibrous networks with high-infrared transmittance for high-performance, comfortable and sustainable PM0.3 filter

Yuchen Yang; Xiangshun Li; Zhiyong Zhou; Qiaohua Qiu; Wenjing Chen; Jianying Huang; Weilong Cai; Xiaohong Qin; Yuekun Lai

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45833-8

Ultrathin, ultralight dual-scale fibrous networks with high-infrared transmittance for high-performance, comfortable and sustainable PM_0.3 filter

Nat Commun. 2024 Feb 21;15(1):1586. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45833-8.

Authors

Yuchen Yang^{1

2

3}, Xiangshun Li³, Zhiyong Zhou³, Qiaohua Qiu^{3

4}, Wenjing Chen³, Jianying Huang^{1

2}, Weilong Cai^{1

2}, Xiaohong Qin⁵, Yuekun Lai^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Qingyuan Innovation Laboratory, Quanzhou, 362801, P. R. China.
² College of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, P. R. China.
³ Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China.
⁴ College of Textile Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, P. R. China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China. xhqin@dhu.edu.cn.
⁶ Qingyuan Innovation Laboratory, Quanzhou, 362801, P. R. China. yklai@fzu.edu.cn.
⁷ College of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, P. R. China. yklai@fzu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Highly permeable particulate matter (PM) can carry various bacteria, viruses and toxics and pose a serious threat to public health. Nevertheless, current respirators typically sacrifice their thickness and base weight for high-performance filtration, which inevitably causes wearing discomfort and significant consumption of raw materials. Here, we show a facile yet massive splitting eletrospinning strategy to prepare an ultrathin, ultralight and radiative cooling dual-scale fiber membrane with about 80% infrared transmittance for high-protective, comfortable and sustainable air filter. By tailoring antibacterial surfactant-triggered splitting of charged jets, the dual-scale fibrous filter consisting of continuous nanofibers (44 ± 12 nm) and submicron-fibers (159 ± 32 nm) is formed. It presents ultralow thickness (1.49 μm) and base weight (0.57 g m^-2) but superior protective performances (about 99.95% PM_0.3 removal, durable antibacterial ability) and wearing comfort of low air resistance, high heat dissipation and moisture permeability. Moreover, the ultralight filter can save over 97% polymers than commercial N95 respirator, enabling itself to be sustainable and economical. This work paves the way for designing advanced and sustainable protective materials.

Abstract

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