Wearing surgical masks is one of the best protective measures to protect humans from viral invasion during the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. However, wearing surgical masks for extended periods will cause uncomfortable sweltering sense to users and are easy to breed bacteria. Here, we reported a novel fibrous membrane with outstanding comfortability and antibacterial activity prepared by PP ultrafine fiber nonwovens and antibacterial functionalized h-BN nanoparticles (QAC/h-BN). The thermal conductivity of commercial PP nonwovens was only 0.13 W m–1 K–1, but that of the QAC/h-BN/PP nanocomposite fibrous membranes can reach 0.88 W m–1 K–1, an enhancement of 706.5% than commercial PP nonwovens. The surface temperature of commercial PP surgical masks was 31.8 °C when the wearing time was 60 min. In contrast, QAC/h-BN/PP surgical masks can reach 33.6 °C at the same tested time, exhibiting stronger heat dissipation than commercial PP surgical masks. Besides, the antibacterial rates of QAC/h-BN/PP nanocomposite fibrous membranes were 99.3% for E. coli and 96.1% for S. aureus, and their antibacterial mechanism was based on “contact killing” without the release of unfavorable biocides. We think that the QAC/h-BN/PP nanocomposite fibrous membranes could provide better protection to people.

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Improving the antifouling performance of the widely used industrial polyamide thin-film-composite reverse osmosis (RO) membrane has recently attracted increasing attention as the RO membrane is inherently prone to fouling, which may seriously deteriorate separation performance and membrane lifespan. In this paper, taking advantage of unreacted acid chloride groups on the surface of the polyamide membrane, we used multiterminal amino group polyethylenimine (PEI) as the linker and used glycidol as the hydrophilic surface modifier to prepare the antifouling reverse osmosis membrane. We aimed to improve the hydrophilicity of the RO membrane by increasing the number density of terminal amino groups of the linker on the polyamide surface. After 9 continuous BSA fouling tests, the flux recovery rate of the glycidol-modified membrane with PEI as linker can reach 98.2%. The enhanced antifouling effect of the method using PEI as the linker and glycidol as the hydrophilic modifier offers insights into new types of antifouling RO membrane development opportunities.