High Efficiency Poly(acrylonitrile) Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes for Airborne Nanomaterials Filtration

• Published in: Advanced engineering materials Vol. 20; no. 1
• Main Authors: Al‐Attabi, Riyadh, Dumée, Ludovic F., Kong, Lingxue, Schütz, Jürg A., Morsi, Yosry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2018
• Subjects: aerosol filtration; airborne contaminates; electrospun membrane; nanomaterials separation; pore size tunability
• ISSN: 1438-1656; 1527-2648
• DOI: 10.1002/adem.201700572

The potential of poly(acrylonitrile) electrospun membranes with tuneable pore size and fiber distributions were investigated for airborne fine‐particle filtration for the first time. The impact of solution concentration on final membrane properties are evaluated for the purpose of designing separation materials with higher separation efficiency. The properties of fibers and membranes are investigated systematically: the average pore distribution, as characterized by capillary flow porometry, and thermo‐mechanical properties of the mats are found to be dependent on fiber diameter and on specific electrospinning conditions. Filtration efficiency and pressure drop are calculated from measurement of penetration through the membranes using potassium chloride (KCl) aerosol particles ranging from 300 nm to 12 μm diameter. The PAN membranes exhibited separation efficiencies in the range of 73.8–99.78% and a typical quality factor 0.0224 (1 Pa−1) for 12 wt% PAN with nanofibers having a diameter of 858 nm. Concerning air flow rate, the quality factor and filtration efficiency of the electrospun membranes at higher face velocity are much more stable than for commercial membranes. The results suggest that the structure of electrospun membranes is the best for air filtration in terms of filtration stability at high air flow rate. This work investigates the fabrication of poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) electrospun structures by varying the fiber diameter to offer specific pore size distributions and fiber morphologies for the capture of aerosol fine particles. The influence of the fiber diameter and membrane properties on the pressure drop and penetration depth of the particles is systematically evaluated. The PAN membranes exhibit separation efficiencies in the range of 73.8 to 99.78% and quality factors up to 0.024546 (1 Pa−1) for uniform nanofiber membranes made from 12 wt% PAN solution having an average fiber diameter of 858 nm.