Bifunctional ZIF-8 Grown Webs for Advanced Filtration of Particulate and Gaseous Matters: Effect of Charging Process on the Electrostatic Capture of Nanoparticles and Sulfur Dioxide.

Metal-organic framework (MOF), an emerging class of porous hybrid inorganic-organic crystals, has been applied for various environmental remediation strategies including liquid and air filtration. In this study, the role of the zeolite imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) was explored on the charge trapping ability and its contribution to capturing the targeted pollutants of NaCl nanoparticles and SO gas. Poly(lactic acid) fibers with controlled surface pores were electrospun using water vapor-induced phase separation, and the fiber surface was uniformly coated with ZIF-8 crystals via an growth method. As a novel process approach, the corona charging process was applied to the ZIF-8 grown webs. The ZIF-8 promoted the charge trapping in the corona process, and the charged ZIF-8 web showed a significantly improved electrostatic filtration efficiency. Also, the charged ZIF-8 web showed an enhanced SO capture ability, both in the static and dynamic air flow states, demonstrating the applicability as a bifunctional filter for both particulate and gaseous matters. The approach of this study is novel in that both particulate and gas capture capabilities were associated with the charge trapping ability of ZIF-8, implementing the corona charging process to the ZIF-8 webs.