Development of Nanofiber Air Filter Materials for Efficient Particulate Matter Removal

Abstract

Pollution of air becomes grave danger for human well-being universally and environmental health. As a high rate growth of industrialization and population, impact of polluted air on humans and environment is also raising high. Particulate Matter (PM) is highly harmful pollutant in air by comparing other pollutants; it is liquid or solid aerosol pollutant particle with tiny aerodynamic size in the range of nanometer to micrometer. PM2.5 particle is the particle with aerodynamic size less than 2.5 and#956;m diameter. Fine PM particles can freely pass into the alveolus and veins along with wind stream that causes several issues in humans like respiratory diseases, heart stroke, lung cancer etc. Therefore indoor protection and outdoor protection from PM pollutant is an essential requirement for humans. However, currently available air filters are based on conventional air filter media under micro range fibers does not capture fine particles. Due to limited surface area, it needs high basis weight in the range of 50 newline- 200 g m-2 or high thickness in the range of ~100 and#956;m to achieve high filtration efficiency. Also, high thickness filter media causes high pressure drop which is not suitable for respiratory mask usage. This research provides development of nanoscale fiber material using electrospinning technique with different additives for high PM capture at low pressure drop with additional properties such as anti-bacterial, hydrophobic/hydrophilic, and long life span newline