Preparation and characterization of electrospun cellulose acetate/poly(ethylene oxide) fiber membrane for air filtration

Air pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems that humans are experiencing. Herein, a sandwich-structured fiber nonwoven composite for air filtration was developed by covering both sides of electrospun cellulose acetate (CA)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) fiber membrane with nonwoven fabric. The relationship between the formability of CA/PEO fiber membrane and the concentration of CA/PEO solution was investigated, and the structure and performance of the membrane were studied. When the solution concentration was higher than the entanglement concentration (C-e), a fiber membrane with a bead structure gradually transitioning to a bead-free structure was formed. The filtration performance of the composite was affected by the structure of the fiber membrane. At an airflow velocity of 85 L/min, the quality factor and filtration efficiency of the composite composed of a small amount of bead-structured fiber membrane were 0.01338 Pa-1 and 98.12%, respectively, while those of two-layer nonwoven fabric were 0.00496 Pa-1 and 4.14%, respectively. This proves that CA/PEO fiber membrane can be a potential candidate material for air filtration.