Electrostatic Charge Retention in PVDF Nanofiber-Nylon Mesh Multilayer Structure for Effective Fine Particulate Matter Filtration for Face Masks

Abstract

Currently, almost 70% of the world’s population occupies urban areas. Owing to the high population density in these regions, they are exposed to various types of air pollutants. Fine particle air pollutants (<2.5 μm) can easily invade the human respiratory system, causing health issues. For fine particulate matter filtration, the use of a face mask filter is efficient; however, its use is accompanied by a high-pressure drop, making breathing difficult. Electrostatic interactions in the filter of the face mask constitute the dominant filtration mechanism for capturing fine particulate matter; these masks are, however, significantly weakened by the high humidity in exhaled breath. In this study, we demonstrate that a filter with an electrostatically rechargeable structure operates with normal breathing air power. In our novel face mask, a filter membrane is assembled by layer-by-layer stacking of the electrospun PVDF nanofiber mat formed on a nylon mesh. Tribo/piezoelectric characteristics via multilayer structure enhance filtration performance, even under air-powered filter bending taken as a normal breathing condition. The air gap between nanofiber and mesh layers increases air diffusion time and preserves the electrostatic charges within the multi-layered nanofiber filter membrane under humid air penetration, which is advantageous for face mask applications.

Polyvinylidene fluoride multi-scale nanofibrous membrane modified using N-halamine with high filtration efficiency and durable antibacterial properties for air filtration

“…Electrospinning has been used successfully to fabricate nanofibrous membranes from various polymers, such as polyacrylonitrile (PAN) [20] , polyamide (PA) [21] , polyethylene terephthalate (PET) [22] , polyurethane (PU) [23] , and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) [24] , [25] , which have been applied to air filtration. In particular, PVDF has been used to construct high-performance particulate matter (PM) filters owing to its excellent chemical inertness, good mechanical properties, thermal stability, and inherent polar structure [26] , [27] .…”

Effect of Fabrication Method on the Thermo Mechanical and Electrical Properties of Graphene Doped PVDF Nanocomposites

“…PVDF is a semicrystalline polymer having a polymorph structure with pyroelectric and piezoelectric characteristics [3]. Moreover, it has a high mechanical strength combined with very low creep and relatively high thermal strength of PVDF compared to engineering polymers, such as polystyrene (PS) [2], polyimide (PI) [3], nylon (PA66) [4,5], and polycarbonate (PC) [6]. Additionally, phase nanofiller or fiber-dispersed PVDF nanocomposites exhibited superior results, clearly indicating that PVDF has great potential for the fabrication of various structural-and electrical-sensing devices.…”

“…Among the various electro-conductive nanomaterials, graphene has attracted much attention for its high strength, large surface area, and good electrical properties. Thus, graphene-based materials have potential in many applications, such as sensors [7,8], nanoelectronic devices, optoelectronic devices, energy storage, and catalysis [4][5][6][7]. Additionally, fabrication of PVDF composites based on second phase dispersed materials (carbon nanostructure, metal, oxides, etc.)…”

Effect of Polymer Dissolution Temperature and Conditioning Time on the Morphological and Physicochemical Characteristics of Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride) Membranes Prepared by Non-Solvent Induced Phase Separation

“…PVDF is a polymer of growing interest for membrane fabrication, based on its low surface energy, relatively high hydrophobicity, high mechanical strength, chemical resistance and thermal stability compared to other commercial polymer materials [ 2 , 24 , 25 ]. It also shows a very good processability as film [ 26 , 27 ], membranes [ 28 , 29 , 30 ], electrospun membranes [ 31 , 32 ], hollow fibres [ 33 , 34 ] or tubular membranes [ 35 ]. The non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process is widely used to produce the membranes; in this process a polymeric solution contacts with a non-solvent inducing a phase separation into two different phases, one with high concentration of polymer and another with low concentration, enabling the formation of polymeric porous structures [ 2 , 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”