Abstract
Due to the increasing use of polypropylene-based nonwoven dust masks and air filters, environmental problems that occur due to the plastic pollution resulting from the disposal of these materials have also increased. Hence, an eco-friendly air filter based on PVA nanofibers (NFs) was fabricated by electrospinning on a nonwoven fabric, and its performance was evaluated as a filter capable of blocking or capturing particulate matter. The quality factor of the optimized PVA NF-based air filter was found to be 0.010606 Pa−1, which is lower than that of a HEPA filter (0.015394 Pa−1), but higher than that of a cabin air filter (0.010517 Pa−1) and a dust mask (0.009102 Pa−1). The contamination level of the PVA NF-based filter was analyzed by optical and structural analyses of the filter surface. Finally, the filter was soaked in water to selectively remove the contaminated PVA NF layer, and the remaining nonwoven fabric was able to be reused to make the filter.
Highlights
The use of polypropylene (PP)-based nonwoven face masks and filters has increased significantly due to air pollution and respiratory viral infections [1,2,3,4]
NF-based filter could be adjusted by controlling the electrospinning time; the limit of the particulate matter (PM) size collected by the filter can be reduced [1,13]
This is because the PVA NFs accumulate on the nonwoven fabric substrate, reducing the pore size and increasing the physical thickness, resulting in a decrease in the amount of light transmitted through the sample [15,19]
Summary
The use of polypropylene (PP)-based nonwoven face masks and filters has increased significantly due to air pollution (particulate matter, harmful gases, etc.) and respiratory viral infections (coronavirus, Spanish flu, etc.) [1,2,3,4]. Park et al proposed photocatalytically degradable poly(vinyl alcohol)/titanium dioxide on environmentally friendly materials and reusable filter technology that can replace the nanofilters for capturing particulate matter (PM) These nanofilters were decomposed by existing PP-based nonwoven filters. We introduce a nanofiber-based filter thatto can disposed existing PP-based nonwoven filters.polymer To enable these air technologies bebe applied of environmentally friendlyismanner onina an daily basis, further research required.using water. To this end, an air filter with a twolayerIn structure (PVA nanofiber/PP-based fabric) fabricated bydisposed electrospinthis study, we introduce a polymer nonwoven nanofiber-based airwas filter that can be ning a PVA solution onto a nonwoven fabric. Can be disposed of by soaking in water, and the remaining nonwoven fabric can be reused as a receiver to form an NF layer
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