Shen Hongchen, Han Minghao, Shen Yun, Shuai Danmeng
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, United States.
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, California 92521, United States.
ACS Environ Au. 2022 Jul 20;2(4):290-309. doi: 10.1021/acsenvironau.1c00047. Epub 2022 Mar 11.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has raised great public concern about the airborne transmission of viral pathogens. Virus-laden aerosols with small size could be suspended in the air for a long duration and remain infectious. Among a series of measures implemented to mitigate the airborne spread of infectious diseases, filtration by face masks, respirators, and air filters is a potent nonpharmacologic intervention. Compared with conventional air filtration media, nanofibrous membranes fabricated via electrospinning are promising candidates for controlling airborne viruses due to their desired characteristics, i.e., a reduced pore size (submicrometers to several micrometers), a larger specific surface area and porosity, and retained surface and volume charges. So far, a wide variety of electrospun nanofibrous membranes have been developed for aerosol filtration, and they have shown excellent filtration performance. However, current studies using electrospinning for controlling airborne viruses vary significantly in the practice of aerosol filtration tests, including setup configurations and operations. The discrepancy among various studies makes it difficult, if not impossible, to compare filtration performance. Therefore, there is a pressing need to establish a standardized protocol for evaluating the electrospun nanofibrous membranes' performance for removing viral aerosols. In this perspective, we first reviewed the properties and performance of diverse filter media, including electrospun nanofibrous membranes, for removing viral aerosols. Next, aerosol filtration protocols for electrospun nanofibrous membranes were discussed with respect to the aerosol generation, filtration, collection, and detection. Thereafter, standardizing the aerosol filtration test system for electrospun nanofibrous membranes was proposed. In the end, the future advancement of electrospun nanofibrous membranes for enhanced air filtration was discussed. This perspective provides a comprehensive understanding of status and challenges of electrospinning for air filtration, and it sheds light on future nanomaterial and protocol development for controlling airborne viruses, preventing the spread of infectious diseases, and beyond.
全球新冠疫情引发了公众对病毒病原体空气传播的高度关注。小尺寸的载病毒气溶胶可长时间悬浮于空气中并保持传染性。在为减轻传染病空气传播而实施的一系列措施中，使用口罩、呼吸器和空气过滤器进行过滤是一种有效的非药物干预手段。与传统空气过滤介质相比，通过静电纺丝制备的纳米纤维膜因其所需特性，即减小的孔径（亚微米至几微米）、更大的比表面积和孔隙率以及保留的表面和体积电荷，有望成为控制空气传播病毒的候选材料。到目前为止，已开发出多种用于气溶胶过滤的静电纺丝纳米纤维膜，它们表现出优异的过滤性能。然而，目前使用静电纺丝控制空气传播病毒的研究在气溶胶过滤测试实践中差异显著，包括设置配置和操作。不同研究之间的差异使得即使不是不可能，也很难比较过滤性能。因此，迫切需要建立一个标准化协议来评估静电纺丝纳米纤维膜去除病毒气溶胶的性能。从这个角度出发，我们首先回顾了包括静电纺丝纳米纤维膜在内的各种过滤介质去除病毒气溶胶的特性和性能。接下来，讨论了静电纺丝纳米纤维膜的气溶胶过滤协议，涉及气溶胶的产生、过滤、收集和检测。此后，提出了对静电纺丝纳米纤维膜气溶胶过滤测试系统进行标准化的建议。最后，讨论了用于增强空气过滤的静电纺丝纳米纤维膜的未来进展。这一观点全面阐述了静电纺丝用于空气过滤的现状和挑战，并为未来控制空气传播病毒、预防传染病传播及其他方面的纳米材料和协议开发提供了启示。
