Quaternary ammonium chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol composites prepared by electrospinning with high antibacterial properties and filtration efficiency

In this paper, quaternary ammonium chitosan (HTCC) was firstly prepared by chitosan (CS) and then electrospun with PVA to produce HTCC/PVA composite nanofiber membranes. CS and HTCC were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. SEM images depicted that the obtained HTCC/PVA composite nanofiber membranes had uniform porous structure. EDS mapping showed that the HTCC was homogenously dispersed in HTCC/PVA nanofiber membrane. TG and DTG analysis demonstrated good thermal stability because of the strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds between HTCC and PVA molecules. BET test was also conducted, and the porosity was about 125 nm. The maximum removal rates of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1.0 were about 92%, 86%, and 82%, respectively, indicating a good filtering effect when used as air purification material. More importantly, when the ratio of PVA–HTCC was 6:4, the antibacterial rate of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was both over 99%. It shows that it has excellent antimicrobial properties. So the experimental results achieve our expected goals.