title: Hierarchically structured polysulfone/titania fibrous membranes with enhanced air filtration performance.
abstract: Hierarchically structured, superhydrophobic filter medium exhibiting robust filtration performance to airborne particulate were prepared by a facile deposition of electrospun polysulfone/titania nanoparticles (PSU/TiO2 NPs) on a conventional nonwoven substrate. The air permeability, tensile strength and abrasion resistance of pristine PSU fibrous membranes could be finely controlled by regulating the solvent composition and number ratios of jets. By employing the TiO2 NPs incorporation, the pristine PSU fibers were endowed with promising superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of up to 152°. The quantitative hierarchical roughness analysis using N2 adsorption method has confirmed the major contribution of TiO2 NPs on enhancing the porous structure and surface fractal features with irregular rough structure. Filtration performance studies have revealed that the filtration efficiency and pressure drop of resultant hybrid membranes could be manipulated by tuning the surface composition as well as the hierarchical structures. Furthermore, the as-prepared PSU/TiO2-5 membrane exhibited improved filtration efficiency (99.997%) and pressure drop (45.3 Pa) compared with pristine PSU membrane, which would make them a promising media for fine particle filtration, and a new insight was also provided into the design and development of high performance filter medium based on hierarchical structured fibers.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Huigao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Research Center for Analysis and Measurement, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Jianmao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Yinsong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Si
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Nanomaterials Research Center, Modern Textile Institute, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China. Electronic address: binding@dhu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El-Newehy
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Salem S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Al-Deyab
authors.affiliation: Nanomaterials Research Center, Modern Textile Institute, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China.
authors.forename: Jianyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: Electrospinning; Filtration performance; Hierarchical structure; PSU/TiO(2) fibers