Electrospun composite membrane based on polyarylene sulfide sulfone/Ag/ZnO nanofibers for antibacterial effective PM2.5 filtration

摘要

Abstract With the increase of PM2.5 and bacteria contamination in the atmosphere, an antibacterial PM2.5 filter is the need of the hour. In this study, a polyarylene sulfide sulfone/Ag/ZnO (PASS/Ag/ZnO) membrane (membrane) was fabricated via the electrospinning technology for simultaneous removal of PM2.5 and bacteria. The membrane exhibits outstanding hydrophobicity (156°), mechanical property (2.67 MPa), and thermal performance (415°C). The filtration efficiency of PASS/Ag/ZnO membrane for PM2.5 is 99.41% and 99.89% under the airflow rate of 0.5 and 2 m/s, respectively, while the filtration pressure drop is only 42 and 79 Pa. More importantly, PASS/Ag/ZnO membrane shows excellent synergistic antibacterial abilities against both Gram‐negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Gram‐positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, the antibacterial rate was up to 96.70% for E. coli and 95.41% for S. aureus, respectively. This composite membrane not only has broad application prospects but also opens new avenues for removing air pollutants including PM2.5 and bacteria from the air in a more cost‐effective method.