PET/TPU nanofiber composite filters with high interfacial adhesion strength based on one-step co-electrospinning

Yinghe Guo,Yuchen Guo,Weidong He,Yibo Zhao,Ruiqing Shen,Jingxian Liu,Jing Wang

doi:10.1016/j.powtec.2021.04.020

Abstract

Nanofiber membranes are widely employed to prepare composite filter media. The traditional composite method of hot pressing may damage the structure of nanofiber membrane, and thus increase the pressure drop through the composite filter. In this study, three-dimensional PET/TPU (polyethylene terephthalate/thermoplastic polyurethane) composite nanofiber filters (PET/TPU-CNF) with beads-on-string structure were fabricated by one-step co-electrospinning. Besides a stronger adhesion strength of 1.385 N/cm between the nanofiber membrane and substrate, the PET/TPU-CNF presented a low pressure drop of 28.96 Pa and a filtration efficiency of 83.64% for ambient particles at a face velocity of 5.3 cm/s. A high tensile strength of 4.33 MPa was measured for the PET/TPU nanofiber membrane. Thanks to the beads-on-string structure, both the mechanical properties and filtration performances of PET/TPU-CNF were enhanced compared with the pure PET nanofiber composite filter. The present study provides a new route to improve the membrane adhesion strength of nanofiber membrane coated filters.

Highlights

PM2.5, which is defined as the particulate matter with a size less than 2.5 μm, has caused serious concerns in recent years because of its threat to public health [1]
The pure polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nanofiber membrane consisted of uniform and randomly oriented fibers with an average diameter of 635 ± 186 nm, and no bead was observed (Fig. 3a and d)
Three-dimensional PET/Thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) composite nanofiber filters (PET/TPU-CNF) with beads-on-string structure have been successfully fabricated by one step co-electrospinning

Summary

Introduction

PM2.5, which is defined as the particulate matter with a size less than 2.5 μm, has caused serious concerns in recent years because of its threat to public health [1]. Electrospinning is a general method used to fabricate nanofiber membrane [5] Many nanofiber membranes, such as polyacrylonitrile (PAN) [6], poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) [7], polyvinyl chloride [8], polyimide [9], and polyamide (PA-66) [10], have been successfully prepared by electrospinning. These nanofiber membranes could not be used independently because of the soft and fragile structure [11].

Methods

Results

Conclusion