High-air
humidity, especially condensation into droplets under
the influence of temperature, can pose a serious threat to air purification
filters. This report introduces the use of methyltrimethoxysilane
(MTMS) for the silanization hydrophobic modification of cellulose
nanofibers (CNFs) and obtains an air filter with super-hydrophobicity
(CA = 152.4°) and high-efficiency filtration of particulate matter
(PM) through the freeze-drying technology. The antihumidity performance
of CNFs filters that undergo hydrophobic modification in high-humidity
air is improved. Especially in the case of high-humidity air forming
condensed water droplets, the increase in the rate of filtration resistance
of the hydrophobically modified CNFs filter is much lower than that
of the unmodified filter. In addition, the water-vapor-transmission
rate of the hydrophobically modified filter is improved. More importantly,
adding MTMS can regulate the porous structure of CNFs filters and
improve the filtration performance. The specific surface area and
the porosity of the filter are 26.54 m2/g and 99.21%, respectively,
and the filtering effects of PM1.0 and PM2.5 reach 99.31 and 99.75%, respectively, while a low-filtration resistance
(42 Pa) and a quality factor of up to 0.122 Pa–1 are achieved. This work has improved the application potential of
high-performance air-purification devices to remove particulate pollution
and may provide useful insights to design next-generation air filters
suitable for application in high-air humidity.
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