Preparation and Characterization of Electrospun PAN-CuCl Composite Nanofiber Membranes with a Special Net Structure for High-Performance Air Filters.

The growing issue of particulate matter (PM) air pollution has given rise to extensive research into the development of high-performance air filters recently. As the core of air filters, various types of electrospun nanofiber membranes have been fabricated and developed. With the novel poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN)-CuCl composite nanofiber membranes as the filter membranes, we demonstrate the high PM removal efficiency exceeding 99% and can last a long service time. The nanoscale morphological characteristics of nanofiber membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and mercury intrusion porosimeter. It is found that they appear to have a special net structure at specific CuCl concentrations, which substantially improves PM removal efficiency. We anticipate the PAN-CuCl composite nanofiber membranes will be expected to effectively solve some pressing problems in air filtration.