Air filtration performance of nanofiber membranes with different morphologies produced by green electrospinning

Abstract

To further target product development with low environmental impact, an integral green electrospinning (G‐ES) approach has been adopted through the simultaneous application of various strategies, such as the use of biopolymers, reduction of energy use to avoid melting temperatures, and selection of non‐toxic solvents and surfactants. Green solubility spinnability maps for cellulose acetate (CA), poly ε‐caprolactone (PCL), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) are presented. Green electrospinning (G‐ES) allows the production of new morphologies for CA and PCL nanofiber membranes. In this work, CA exhibits a ribbon‐like morphology, PCL shows a honeycomb‐like morphology and PVA cylindrical fibers. Membrane morphologies are compared with filtration efficiency (FE) for particle size of 1.0 μm and quality factor (QF) at a volumetric flux of 27.63 cm−1. For CA is between 83% and 96% and high QF = 0.31–0.38 Pa−1, PCL is 92% and 99% and high QF = 0.28–0.21 Pa−1 and for PVA between 96% and 99% and high QF = 0.14–0.08 Pa−1. These results suggest that the hierarchical nanofiber structure improves filtration performance because of the reduction in pressure drop and increase in PM interception. CA ribbon‐like fibers favored air filtration performance, followed by PCL honeycomb‐like fibers.