Alkaline treated poly(lactic acid) nanofibrous web for fog collector

Abstract

Water is a vital renewable resource for all living organisms, including humans, and various methods have emerged to gather it from sources such as fog. Biodegradable polymers, such as poly(lactic acid) (PLA), can be utilized to capture and transport droplets, but their prolonged exposure to alkaline environments can lead to erosion, dissolution, or breakdown due to hydrolysis. Thus, the objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of PLA nanofibrous web as a fog collector and investigate the possibility of adjusting its hydrophilicity through alkaline treatment. By inducing the generation of COOH or OH on the PLA surface, its hydrophilicity can be modified to enhance its fog collection performance. The research aims to determine if electrospun PLA nanofibrous web can serve as a component of a fog collector with improved hydrophilicity as a result of alkaline treatment. Despite using a single material, the alkaline treated PLA nanofibrous web exhibited relatively good performance of 55.1 mg·cm−2·h−1 compared to other blend polymer nanofibers.