Electrospun Nanofiber Mats for Filtering Applications—Technology, Structure and Materials

Abstract

Air pollution is one of the biggest health and environmental problems in the world and a huge threat to human health on a global scale. Due to the great impact of respiratory viral infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, lung disease, and heart disease, respiratory allergies are increasing significantly every year. Because of the special properties of electrospun nanofiber mats, e.g., large surface-to-volume ratio and low basis weight, uniform size, and nanoporous structure, nanofiber mats are the preferred choice for use in large-scale air filtration applications. In this review, we summarize the significant studies on electrospun nanofiber mats for filtration applications, present the electrospinning technology, show the structure and mechanism of air filtration. In addition, an overview of current air filtration materials derived from bio- and synthetic polymers and blends is provided. Apart from this, the use of biopolymers in filtration applications is still relatively new and this field is still under-researched. The application areas of air filtration materials are discussed here and future prospects are summarized in conclusion. In order to develop new effective filtration materials, it is necessary to understand the interaction between technology, materials, and filtration mechanisms, and this study was intended to contribute to this effort.

The Possibility of Reuse of Nanofiber Mats by Machine Washing at Different Temperatures

“…All of these proprieties have caused nanofiber filters to be gradually used for mask applications across the world. As reported in previous work, nanofiber mats can be used as filters in many applications, as well as in the environmental sector [17].…”

“…Electrospinning technology provides an easy way to produce nanofiber mats [8,9] for various purposes, from a wide range of biobased and synthetic polymers [10][11][12] and admixtures of particles [13,14], etc. Using electrospinning technology, nanofiber mats can be produced easily and cost-effectively for use in electronics [15], battery storage [13,16], medical and biotech-nology [17], water and air filtration [18], protective clothing [19,20], tissue engineering [21] and other applications.…”

ZnO-Impregnated Polyacrylonitrile Nanofiber Filters against Various Phases of Air Pollutants

“…Electrospun nanofiber filters have been widely used in air cleaning applications as they can be woven into a systematic structure having a large specific surface area and high porosity that enable the effective capture of PM with low flow resistance [ 6 , 8 , 9 ]. Electrospun nanofibers have been fabricated from various polymers, including polyacrylonitrile (PAN), nylon, and polyvinylidene fluoride [ 10 , 11 ]. Among them, PAN is the most commonly used polymer due to its high dipole moment and excellent mechanical stability [ 12 , 13 ].…”

Selective Adsorption and Separation of Proteins by Ligand-Modified Nanofiber Fabric

“…Polymer nanomaterials technology has brought a profound impact on the fields of artificial intelligence [ 22 ], telecommunication [ 23 ] and energy [ 24 ] and has provided a direction for the solution to the troubles in protein separation. Electrospun nanofibers are characterized by large specific surface ratios, high porosity (over 80%), superior mechanical strength, excellent controllability of the spinning process and a wide variety of raw materials [ 25 , 26 , 27 ]. It has attracted great attention from researchers in the field of adsorption and separation [ 28 , 29 , 30 ].…”