Facile Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile/poly(acrylic acid) Nanofibrous Membranes for High Efficiency Particulate Air Filtration

Polyacrylonitrile/poly(acrylic acid) (PAN/PAA with weight radios of 3/7, 4/6, 5/5, 6/4, 7/3 and 10/0) nanofibers (NFs) were prepared as filter medium by electrospinning. The tensile strength of blended nanofibrous mats increased as increasing PAA content, from 3.8 to 6.6 MPa, higher than pristine PAN. The mesoporous effect of nanofibrous mats was also investigated from the nitrogen physisorption isotherms, average pore size in the range of 17-44 nm. Air filtration efficiency and pressure drop of nanofibrous mats were evaluated. PAN/PAA (6/4) NFs showed high filtration efficiency (99.994 %) with lowest pressure drop (160 Pa) for 300-500 nm sodium chloride aerosol particles at a 5.3 cm/s airflow velocity, which suggested this material was appropriate as a promising candidate for high performance filters.