Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a source of air pollution and are harmful to both human health and the environment. In this study, we fabricated polyurethane/rare earth (PU/RE) composite nanofibrous membranes via electrospinning with the aim of removing VOCs from air. The morphological structure of PU/RE nanofibrous mats was investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) experimental analyses. A certain amount of RE (up to 50 wt. % compared to PU pellets) nanoparticles (NPs) could be loaded on/into PU fibers. The tensile strength of PU/RE nanofibrous membranes decreased slightly with the increasing RE powder content. The PU nanofiber containing 50 wt. % RE powder had the smallest fiber diameter of 356 nm; it also showed the highest VOC absorption capacity compared with other composite membranes, having an absorption capacity about three times greater than pure PU nanofibers. In addition, all of the PU/RE nanofibrous membranes readily absorbed styrene the most, followed by xylene, toluene, benzene and chloroform. Therefore, the PU/RE nanofibrous membrane can play an important role in removing VOCs from the air, and its development prospects are impressive because they are emerging materials.
Highlights
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are numerous, varied, and ubiquitous, and they are one of the sources of air pollution
The polyurethane/rare earth (PU/Rare earth (RE)) nanofibrous membrane can play an important role in removing VOCs from the air, and its development prospects are impressive because they are emerging materials
In this VOCs absorption experiment, the VOCs absorption ability of PU/RE nanofibrous membranes was analyzed by GC/MS
Summary
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are numerous, varied, and ubiquitous, and they are one of the sources of air pollution. Using activated carbon as an adsorption medium is less economic than that of composite nanofibrous materials. Socholten et al [16] and Kim et al [19,21] reported that adsorption and desorption of VOCs by electrospun nanofibrous membranes was faster than that of conventional activated carbon. The composite nanofibrous materials, which were fabricated using electrospinning technology, are more cost-effective, easy to use and versatile for the removal of VOCs [19,20,21]. The RE elements combined with other materials, especially the nanocomposite fibrous membranes produced via electrospinning, still have not been studied on the removal characteristics of the VOCs. in this study, we investigated the combined characteristics of RE and polyurethane (PU) and their VOC adsorption capacity using the electrospinning technique. The as-fabricated PU/RE nanofibrous membranes are promising facile, practical materials for the removal of VOCs from air in our environment
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