Influence of fiber diameter, filter thickness, and packing density on PM2.5 removal efficiency of electrospun nanofiber air filters for indoor applications

Abstract

Electrospinning is a versatile technique to fabricate nanofiber filters with high PM2.5 removal efficiency and relatively low pressure drop. The eletrospun nanofiber filters may therefore be applied in buildings to reduce indoor exposure to PM2.5 and the associated adverse health effects. This study investigated the influence of various filter parameters, including fiber diameter, filter thickness, and packing density, on the PM2.5 removal efficiency. In this work, 25 nylon electrospun nanofiber filters with different filter parameters were prepared, and the PM2.5 removal efficiency of each sample was measured at five different face velocities. In total, 125 sets of measured data were obtained. The results show that the PM2.5 removal efficiency of nylon electrospun nanofiber filters was negatively associated with the fiber diameter, and positively associated with the thickness of the filter. However, there was no clear correlation between PM2.5 removal efficiency and packing density. This investigation further developed a semi-empirical model for predicting the PM2.5 removal efficiency of nylon nanofiber filters. The accuracy of the model was satisfactory with a median relative error of 7.9%.