Bio-based electrospun nanofiber as building blocks for a novel eco-friendly air filtration membrane: A review

Currently, air pollution as a thorny issue has been affecting the atmospheric environment and human health for a long time. Air filtration is a crucial and effective method to improve the air quality. The nanofiber membranes fabricated by electrospinning technology have play a prospective role in the field of air filtration due to their porous structure, high specific surface area, controllable morphology and multi-functional fiber surface. The excessive utilization of traditional air filter materials prepared from non-degradable polymers or glass fibers poses huge challenges to environmental protection. Supported by the advantages of wide availability, environmental sustainability, biocompatibility and biodegradability, natural polymers have become good candidates to substitute traditional synthetic polymers for manufacturing air filtration media. In this review, the necessity and mechanism of air filtration are firstly introduced. On this basis, it is proposed to evaluate the performance parameters of nanofiber membranes prepared by electrospinning technology in air filtration. In addition, in view of the restrictions of traditional air filtration materials, the valuable prospects of eco-friendly and sustainable natural bio-based materials are introduced in detail, as well as the diverse categories and comprehensive performance of their nanofiber membranes prepared by electrospinning technology in removing air pollutants. Given that the research summary of this review, we finally deliberate the remaining problems and future challenges.