In Situ Biosynthesis of Biodegradable Functional Bacterial Cellulose for High-Efficiency Particulate Air Filtration

Abstract

Air pollution has caused serious public health concerns and attracted much attention of researchers, especially those working on sustainable and environmentally friendly polymers. In this work, we modified bacterial cellulose (BC) into N-acetyl BC (AcNBC) in an in situ manner and put it to use as filters for the removal of particulate matter (PM) particles. The structure and the morphology of BC-based materials were investigated by C NMR, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Through the observation of its microscopic morphology, we find that the nanoscale fiber diameter and the three-dimensional structure are almost impervious to the introduction of acetyl. The result of quantified PM removal by an AcNBC filter shows a higher removal of PM than that by pristine BC and meets the qualification of the 95% high-efficiency standard under high-concentration PM particles. Moreover, the BC-based filters after filtration showed favorable biodegradation in a real soil environment. These results suggest that BC-based materials can be effective candidate filters for the removal of polluted air, resulting in a healthier living environment.

Multilevel structured PA66@BN nanofiber filter prepared via solution blow spinning and spraying for efficient particulate matter removal

“…When the filtration time is 30 min, PM first forms a few axisymmetric droplets on the surface of the fine nanofiber, with the increase of oily PM captured, the spindle‐shaped droplets become more and larger. When the filtration time is increased to 60 min, it can be seen that the pollutants are tightly coated on the surface of the nanofibers 39,40 . Due to the polarity of PMs pollutants, after the fibrous absorb a large number of PM pollutants, there is an interaction between the nanofibers, and the nanofibers begin to cross‐link and fuse, and finally form a large area of oil film covering the nanofibers.…”

“…When the filtration time is increased to 60 min, it can be seen that the pollutants are tightly coated on the surface of the nanofibers. 39,40 Due to the polarity of PMs pollutants, after the fibrous absorb a large number of PM pollutants, there is an interaction between the nanofibers, and the nanofibers begin to cross-link and fuse, and finally form a large area of oil film covering the nanofibers. Figure 6d-f shows the PA66@4BN microstructure of the composite nanofibers after filtration at different times.…”

Insights into Hierarchical Structure–Property–Application Relationships of Advanced Bacterial Cellulose Materials

“…), physical modification (hot‐pressing, [ 75 ] stretching, [ 76 ] etc. ), in situ culture modification [ 34,77 ] (changing the carbon source, using additives, etc.) or combined modification methods can be employed to easily modify the ion transport performance of BC‐based materials.…”

Sustainable surgical masks: optimizing fine/ultrafine particle filtration using PVA/chitosan electrospun nanofibers

“…Developing biodegradable and disposable masks with low cost and reliable efficiency is a promising research subject and a societal demand. [59][60][61] Bacterial biosynthesis of degradable air filters has already been investigated for cellulose 62 and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with chitosan (CS), 63 which have shown promising results for air filtration, with over 95% collection efficiency for PM 2.5 . However, electrospun nanofibers are more effective in filtering tiny particles and aerosols close to the nanoscale range.…”