Nanofibres for Clean Air Breathing

Abstract

Air pollution is a global concern for human health. Air pollution leads to respiratory diseases, cancer, and even death. Tiny sized particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the main health hazards in air. Functional nanofibres can trap these pollutants. This paper studied the electrospun nanofibre membrane (ENM) for protection against smaller PM (B 2.5 lm) and VOCs. The ENM of 1.2 g/m 2 areal density was prepared using electrospinning. Due to the low ENM areal density, the air resistance was small, which makes it suitable for respiratory filtration. The ENM was charac-terised using scanning electron microscopy and capillary flow porometry. Its filtration efficiency and VOC adsorp-tion capacity were determined using a typical laboratory setup. The ENM showed excellent filtration efficiency (C 95%) for PM 0.3 lm. It also effectively adsorbed benzene VOC mainly due to its surface modification with b-cyclodextrin. The electrospun nanofibre membrane provides multifunctional protection and aids in pollution-free air breathing. This nanotechnology-based material has the potential to be used in air filtration for clean air.