Environmentally friendly zein/ethylcellulose nanofiber air filtration materials with tunable hydrophobicity and high...

Due to people's environmental awareness and the continuous improvement of the living environment requirements, the pollution problem of fine particles has attracted widespread attention and great importance. Therefore, the development of new green and environmentally friendly air filtration materials with high efficiency and low resistance is ongoing. In this work, eco-friendly zein/ethylcellulose blende nanofiber membranes with different fiber morphologies, diameter sizes, and hydrophobicity are prepared by electrospinning technology, and their performance in the field of air filtration and purification is investigated, to make them highly efficient for the adsorption of small pollutants of various polarities. The experiments showed that the hydrophobicity of the nanofiber membrane was adjusted by changing the ratio of zein and ethylcellulose, and the addition of ethylcellulose improved the thermal stability and use temperature of the composite nanofiber membrane. The filtration efficiency of the nanofiber membrane can reach more than 85 % for small particle pollutants of different polarities, and both sides of the tested membrane have high filtration capacity, which can still be maintained after three times of reused. This gives it great potential and broad application prospects in the field of air filtration.