A Novel Biodegradable Fibrous Membrane with Remarkable Filtration and Antibacterial Properties

Abstract

Nowadays, in some countries and regions the inhalable suspended particles in the air have caused irreversible harm to human health. The filtration performance of the material is the key to the application, meanwhile, the bacteria and viruses accumulated on the surface of the filter material have caused potential threats. And a large amount of discarded non-degradable filter materials caused secondary pollution of the environment. Therefore, filter material with high interception efficiency, antimicrobial and environmental friendliness properties is urgent needed. In this study, electrospinning was used to prepare an antibacterial fibrous membrane composed of an organic–inorganic composite whose continuous phase was polylactic acid (PLA), with quartz monzonite porphyry (QMP) particles decorated with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) as the inorganic filler phase. Its filtration and antibacterial properties were investigated, and the results showed that the main factors affecting the filtration efficiency were the ratio of the filler particles to the continuous phase and the particle size of the filler. The addition of QMP endowed the membrane with antibacterial properties, which were further improved after decorating Ag NPs with QMP. The barrier rate of the membrane for PM 2.5 reached 95.6%, and the inactivation ratios of the fibrous membrane for Escherichia coli were 48% and 98% before and after decoration by Ag NPs, respectively.