Abstract:
Polylactic acid (PLA) fibrous membranes are widely used in the field of air filtration due to their biodegradability. However, low electroactivity and dense fiber structure lead to high air resistance and low PMs filtration efficiency. Meanwhile, to expand their applications in extremely cold environments, their photothermal properties and anti/de-icing capabilities also require to be considered. To this end, MOF-Carbon nanotubes (CNT) nanohybrids (NH) with a regular structure and extremely small size (~400 nm) was prepared by microwave-assisted synthesis. Furthermore, an electrospinning strategy was used to prepare a PLA/NH fibrous membrane with high-efficiency and low-resistance filtration performance and excellent anti/de-icing capabilities. The PLA/NH fibrous membranes had smaller fiber diameter and higher electroactivity, resulting in more excellent filtration ability. Among them, PLA/NH15 (MOF-CNT content of 15%, Mean = 1.39 μm) exhibited the best comprehensive filtration performance. Especially in an environment of a high gas flow rate (85 L/min), PM
0.3 filtration efficiency was as high as 91.7%, while the pressure drop only reached 110.1 Pa. In a cold environment (−20℃), the surface temperature of the PLA/NH fibrous membranes could exceed 0℃ under the irradiation of a sun illumination, reaching a maximum of 18℃ in the fastest 98 s (PLA/NH15). At the same time, PLA/NH15 expressed excellent photothermal conversion stability. Compared with the rapid freezing of water droplets on the surface of Pure PLA (120 s), the water droplets on the surface of PLA/NH15 could delay freezing (683 s) due to the excellent hydrophobicity of the fibrous membrane. In an environment of −20℃ and under the irradiation of a sun illumination, the ice crystals on the surface of PLA/NH15 could melt rapidly (352 s), while the Pure PLA shown no sign of melting after
1200 s of a sun illumination. The excellent air filtration performance and outstanding anti/de-icing capabilities of the PLA/NH fibrous membranes made it show broad application prospects in extremely cold environment in the field of air filtration.