Electrospun polyurethane/β-cyclodextrin composite membranes for aerosol filtration and absorption of volatile organic compounds from air

Air pollution is a growing worldwide concern due to its adverse effects on human health and the environment. The enhanced filtration performance, low resistance, low cost, and high surface-to-volume ratio make nanofibers an attractive material for many applications such as healthcare, energy, and air filtration. Recently, electrospun nanomembranes have been used for effective air filtration owing to their potential for active surface modification. The purpose of this study was to synthesize polyurethane (PU) nanofiber membrane incorporated with different amounts of β–cyclodextrin (β-CD) to capture Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) along with aerosol filtration from the air. The utilized VOC for evaluating the capturing efficiency was toluene. The PU was based on 4, 4- Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) as the hard segment and 1, 4 butanediol and polytetetramethylene ether glycol (PTMG) as the soft segment. The membranes were fabricated by electrospinning in N, N-dimethylformamide solutions to form nano-sized fibers. The chemical structure and morphology of the produced samples were assessed by FTIR and SEM, respectively. The highest filtration performance was observed for PU with 1 wt% β-CD nanofiber. Due to high efficiency (83.13%) and low-pressure drop (ΔP =19 pa), this sample had a considerable quality parameter. The results demonstrated that the membrane which was loaded with β-CD was able to adsorb hazardous and carcinogenic VOCs. It was confirmed that adding β-CD into PU improves the absorption capacity due to forming π complex and having a different tendency against capturing the variety of VOCs. The PU with 3 wt% β-CD nanofiber sample was recognized with the highest absorption efficiency against Toluene. Overall, the outputs of study revealed that the selectivity of the PU fibers toward VOC vapors, along with the ease of regeneration, can make them attractive for VOC filtration.

Electrospun polyurethane/β-cyclodextrin composite membranes for aerosol filtration and absorption of volatile organic compounds from air Keywords:

Electrospinning , Composite membrane , Volatile Organic Compounds , Absorption , Air filtration