Antimicrobial coating of nanofibrous membrane for air filtration

Abstract

As air pollution is becoming a severe problem, especially in developing countries, it is necessary to seek the protection. It is well known that fine particle matter is the cause of some respiratory diseases, but recently, it has been found that they can also absorb aerosols with viruses and facilitate their easier spreading, thanks to their big area volume ratio. This leads to the development of antimicrobial and antiviral materials, which is the topic of this study. This contribution presents prepared nanofibers sprayed by electrospraying in an electrostatic field with chitosan, functioning as an antimicrobial agent. Chitosan is a natural, biodegradable polymer with low solubility in water. Because of this reason, diluted acetic acid was used. Polyethylene oxide was added to the solution to ensure electrospraying. Two types of polyurethane and polylactide acid were used as nanofibrous mats for spraying. These coated nanofibrous membranes were tested for their air filtration properties, such as filtration efficiency and pressure drop, porosity, antimicrobial activity and morphological structure. The filtration efficiency remained similar to pure polymer nanofiber membranes. However, the pressure drop has increased in most cases significantly. It has been achieved antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. These nanofibers are prepared for utilization in filtration systems.