Keyvani Sepideh, Golbabaei Farideh, Esmaeely Neisiany Rasoul, Pourmand Mohammad Reza, Kalantary Saba, Das Oisik, Rahimi Foroushani Abbas, Masoorian Ensieh, Goodarzi Saied
Department of Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 1417613151, Iran.
Department of Polymer Engineering, Hakim Sabzevari University, Sabzevar 9617976487, Iran.
ACS Omega. 2025 Jun 10;10(24):26106-26117. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.5c03317. eCollection 2025 Jun 24.
Nanofibrous structures have a wide range of applications, including air filtration for fine particles. This study fabricated bead-free nanofiber membranes from aqueous poly-(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and PVA/boric acid (BA) solutions containing varying concentrations of nanoencapsulated curcumin (CUR) using the electrospinning method to investigate filtration performance against aerosols and bioaerosols, antibacterial activity, mechanical properties, and biodegradability. The prepared membranes were morphologically examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). In addition, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to investigate the incorporation of CUR into the fibers. The higher CUR content resulted in thicker fibers and significantly improved the mechanical properties of the samples. The filtration performance of the bead-free samples was evaluated for different particle sizes (0.3-3 μm) at airflow rates of 28.3 and 32 L min. The incorporation of CUR enhanced filtration performance against chemical particles and microorganisms, mechanical characteristics, as well as antibacterial activity in the nanofibers. Nanofibers containing CUR could provide superior filtration performance, achieving approximately 100% efficiency for 0.3 μm particles and a pressure drop of 167 Pa at 32 L min. Also, lower CUR concentrations in the nanofiber membranes demonstrated high bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) (above 96%) against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Nanofibers containing CUR showed more effective antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) compared to S. aureus. Furthermore, biodegradability, as a specific aspect of environmental impact, was investigated in PVA and PVA/BA nanofibers containing CUR. According to the results, the biodegradability rate of PVA nanofibers decreased as CUR and BA were added to the membrane structure. A greater CUR concentration could also increase the biodegradability rate of PVA/CUR and PVA/BA/CUR nanofibers. As a result, green electrospun nanofibers containing CUR and BA offer a promising solution for environmentally friendly air filters targeting chemical particles and microbial contaminants.
纳米纤维结构有广泛的应用，包括用于细颗粒物的空气过滤。本研究采用静电纺丝法，从含有不同浓度纳米包封姜黄素（CUR）的水性聚（乙烯醇）（PVA）和PVA/硼酸（BA）溶液中制备无珠纳米纤维膜，以研究其对气溶胶和生物气溶胶的过滤性能、抗菌活性、机械性能和生物降解性。使用场发射扫描电子显微镜（FE-SEM）对制备的膜进行形态学检查。此外，利用傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）研究CUR在纤维中的掺入情况。较高的CUR含量导致纤维更粗，并显著改善了样品的机械性能。在28.3和32 L/min的气流速率下，对不同粒径（0.3 - 3μm）的无珠样品的过滤性能进行了评估。CUR的掺入增强了对化学颗粒和微生物的过滤性能、机械特性以及纳米纤维中的抗菌活性。含CUR的纳米纤维可提供卓越的过滤性能，对于0.3μm颗粒在32 L/min时效率约达100%，压降为167 Pa。此外，纳米纤维膜中较低的CUR浓度对金黄色葡萄球菌（S. aureus）表现出高细菌过滤效率（BFE）（高于96%）。与金黄色葡萄球菌相比，含CUR的纳米纤维对大肠杆菌（E. coli）显示出更有效的抗菌活性。此外，作为环境影响的一个特定方面，对含CUR的PVA和PVA/BA纳米纤维的生物降解性进行了研究。结果表明，随着CUR和BA添加到膜结构中，PVA纳米纤维的生物降解率降低。更高的CUR浓度也可提高PVA/CUR和PVA/BA/CUR纳米纤维的生物降解率。因此，含CUR和BA的绿色静电纺纳米纤维为针对化学颗粒和微生物污染物的环保空气过滤器提供了一个有前景的解决方案。
