Bridged Conductive Nanofibrous Membrane Overcoming the Porosity-Conductivity Trade-Off for Electrothermal Air...

Emerging conductive porous materials hold remarkable promise for Joule-heating applications like electothermal filtration, smart textiles, and energy management due to their porous and conductive synergy. However, their development is constrained by a design trade-off between achieving high porosity for efficient flow transmission and maintaining a conductive network for effective charge transport. To overcome this, a bridged conductive nanofibrous membrane (BCNM) by linking polypyrrole-coated nanofibers via self-assembled polypyrrole nanowires is developed. This dual-state network establishes continuous electron pathways while preserving multiscale porous channels, orchestrating air permeation, particulate capture, and electrothermal sterilization for all-in-one air purification. Leveraging this synergy, BCNM captures 98.79% of >0.3 µm particles under an ultra-low pressure drop of 76 Pa and instantaneously self-heats to 100 °C at low power to sterilize 99.49% of airborne bacteria. These performances compare favorably with leading conductive porous materials in both filtration performance and energy economy. A proof-of-concept solar-powered purifier incorporating the BCNM outperforms existing purification technologies in terms of filtration, sterilization, energy efficiency, and cost. This work offers an innovative material-structure-function paradigm for developing energy-interactive porous materials, with broad potential in smart filtration, biomedical protection, and sustainable energy systems.