Abstract
Electrospun polyamide 6 (PA 6) and polyamide 6/6 (PA 6/6) nanofibers were produced in order to investigate their experimental characteristics with the goal of obtaining filtration relevant fiber media. The experimental design model of each PA nanofibers contained the following variables: polymer concentration, ratio of solvents, nanofiber media collection time, tip-to-collector distance, and the deposition voltage. The average diameter of the fibers, their morphology, basis weight, thickness, and resulting media solidity were investigated. Effects of each variable on the essential characteristics of PA 6/6 and PA 6 nanofiber media were studied. The comparative analysis of the obtained PA 6/6 and PA 6 nanofiber characteristics revealed that PA 6/6 had higher potential to be used in filtration applications. Based on the experimental results, the graphical representation—response surfaces—for obtaining nanofiber media with the desirable fiber diameter and basis weight characteristics were derived. Based on the modelling results the nanofiber filter media (mats) were fabricated. Filtration results revealed that nanofiber filter media electrospun from PA6/6 8% (w/vol) solutions with the smallest fiber diameters (62–66 nm) had the highest filtration efficiency (PA6/6_30 = 84.9–90.9%) and the highest quality factor (PA6/6_10 = 0.0486–0.0749 Pa−1).
Highlights
Recent advances in nanofiber material research provide a platform for further innovative biomedical and technical applications [1]
Morphology and fiber diameter of the electrospun fibers were obtained from scanning electron microscope (SEM) images shown in Figure 3, whereas basis weight and thickness were derived from experimental measurements, while solidity values were estimated using formula (1)
Our findings agree with the results reported previously [21] and could be explained by the fact that lower voltages invoke less ionization of the polyamide solution, resulting in absence of the spider-net like (SN) structures
Summary
Recent advances in nanofiber material research provide a platform for further innovative biomedical and technical applications [1]. The main techniques for nanofiber based material production are multicomponent fiber spinning, centrifugal spinning, modular meltblowing, pressurised gyration process, and electrospinning [2, 3]. The latter is the most popular technique due to its simplicity and inexpensive instrumental setup [4,5,6]. Due to the unique characteristics, such as large surface-area-tovolume ratio and low basis weight, nanoporous structures, as well as the uniform size electrospun nanofiber materials, could be employed for a full scale air filtration application [7,8,9]. Electrospun nanofibers can have a remarkable impact in HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) and ULPA (ultralow penetration air) filtration [9, 11,12,13]
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