Self-cleaning and flexible filters based on aminopyridine conjugated microporous polymers nanotubes for bacteria sterilization and efficient PM2.5 capture

The capture and elimination of harmful particulate matter (PM) both in air and water is of great importance for human health and environmental sustainability. Here, we demonstrate a novel strategy for the exploitation of conjugated microporous polymer bearing aminopyridine moiety (A-CMPs) as an advanced filter for bacteria sterilization and efficient PM capture. The A-CMPs network shows a hierarchically porous structure with mechanical robustness and flexibility, which facilitates to filtration especially for PM with different particle sizes. The capture efficiency of A-CMPs aerogels for PM2.5 and PM10 were respectively up to PM2.5 >= 99.57 +/- 0.19% and PM10 >= 99.98 +/- 0.01% in a long-term durability test and easy to be regenerated. Moreover, the A-CMPAs features excellent superhydrophobicity, which is difficult to saturate with water aerosols in humid air (RH: 89 +/- 3%) and in turn shows superior stability and high-performance in terms to capture efficiency. More importantly, the A-CMP monolith exhibits excellent antimicrobial activity and high concentrations of bacterial suspension (e.g., using E. coli as probe bacterial) could be effectively captured and quickly killed during filtration, which endows the A-CMPs additional sterilization performance and thus is of great technological significance with remarkable potentials as a new kind of advanced filter for multifunctional filtration in both air and water. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The novel strategy of utilizing conjugated microporous polymer with aminopyridine moiety as an advanced filter demonstrates efficient capture of bacteria and harmful particulate matter in air and water. The material shows excellent filtration performance for PM2.5 and PM10, with superior stability and antimicrobial activity. Additionally, the superhydrophobicity of the material ensures high capture efficiency even in humid conditions.