Flexible and Lightweight Carbon Nanotube Composite Filter for Particulate Matter Air Filtration

Particulate Matter (PM) has become an important source of air pollution. We proposed a flexible and lightweight carbon nanotube (CNT) composite air filter for PM removal. The developed CNT filtering layers were fabricated using a floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FC-CVD) synthesis process and then combined with conventional filter fabrics to make a composite air filter. Filtration performance for CNT filtering layer alone and composited with other conventional filter fabrics for particles size 0.3 μm to 2.5 μm was investigated in this study. The CNT composite filter is highly hydrophobic, making it suitable for humid environments. The CNT composite filter with two layers of tissue CNT performed best and achieved a filtration efficiency over 90% with a modest pressure drop of ~290 Pa for a particle size of 2.5 μm. This CNT composite filter was tested over multiple cycles to ensure its reusability. The developed filter is very light weight and flexible and can be incorporated into textiles for wearable applications or used as a room filter.