Silk-crosslinked polyester fibrous air filters with electrostatic interfacial mediation for high- efficiency and low-resistance air purification
Chenyang Dang, Minghui Shan, Enze Tian, Xiangkun Elvis Cao, Yaping Xu, Jing Shen, Tao Zhang, Jiyang Xiong, Jinhan Mo, Guiyin Xu, Meifang Zhu
Abstract
Similar to most air filtration strategies, fibrous filters have the trade-off between efficiency and air flow. An electrostatic-assisted electret filter may help improve filtration efficiency while maintaining air flow. In this work, we present a silk-nanofiber-modified polyethylene terephthalate (SNF@PET) fiber filter with an improved compression strength and modulus by 1.9 and 1.6 times respectively, at 2 wt % SNF content, increasing the structural stability of the filter to support a higher air flow. The filtration efficiencies of the SNF@PET fiber membrane for PM 0.3-0.5 and PM 0.5-1 are up to 99.7% and 99.6%, respectively, with a corresponding pressure drop of 3.3 Pa at 0.1 m s −1 air velocity. The SNF@PET fiber filter showed a slight decrease in filtration efficiency to 98.3% for PM 0.3-0.5 and a small increase of pressure drop to 3.7 Pa (from 3.3 Pa) after 400 h.