Abstract
In this study, fibrous membranes from recycled-poly(ethylene terephthalate)/silk fibroin (r-PSF) were prepared by electrospinning for filtration applications. The effect of silk fibroin on morphology, fibers diameters, pores size, wettability, chemical structure, thermo-mechanical properties, filtration efficiency, filtration performance, and comfort properties such as air and water vapor permeability was investigated. The filtration efficiency (FE) and quality factor (Qf), which represents filtration performance, were calculated from penetration through the membranes using aerosol particles ranging from 120 nm to 2.46 μm. The fiber diameter influenced both FE and Qf. However, the basis weight of the membranes has an effect, especially on the FE. The prepared membranes were classified according to EN149, and the most effective was assigned to the class FFP1 and according to EN1822 to the class H13. The impact of silk fibroin on the air permeability was assessed. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity against bacteria S. aureus and E. coli and biocompatibility were evaluated. It is discussed that antibacterial activity depends not only on the type of used materials but also on fibrous membranes’ surface wettability. In vitro biocompatibility of the selected samples was studied, and it was proven to be of the non-cytotoxic effect of the keratinocytes (HaCaT) after 48 h of incubation.
Highlights
poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) has been already electrospun from a trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a mixture of TFA/DCM [44,66,67] in various portions or from
In the case of silk fibroin, it has been proven many times that the SF could be electrospun from aqueous solutions only with the aid of an auxiliary polymer [69,70]; it was successfully electrospun from formic acid (FA), TFA, and HFIP [58,70,71]
Fibrous free-standing membranes were fabricated from the blend of mechanically stable recycled PET and silk fibroin extracted from the cocoon’s silkworm Bombyx Mori
Summary
Following the current pandemic situation worldwide and prognosis published up to date by World Health Organization (WHO), there is no doubt that polymer fibrous membranes like filters or masks against COVID-19 are currently one of the most demanded products ever [1,2,3]. With this respect, every alternative and fabrication method should be seriously considered [4,5,6,7]. This method offered the possibility to prepare fibrous polymer products from synthetic or natural polymers or virgin and recycled polymers (plastic wastes) [9,10,11]
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