Electrospinning hydrophobically modified polyvinyl alcohol composite air filter paper with water resistance and high filterability properties

Abstract In this paper, a simple method for hydrophobic modification of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was found. Using N-methylpyrrolidone as solvent, PVA was esterified with stearyl chloride without catalyst. The modified hydrophobic polyvinyl alcohol (MPVA) was well verified by FT-IR and XRD. Using air filter paper as receiving substrate and MPVA as spinning solution, MPVA air filter paper with water resistance and high filtration performance was prepared, and hydrophilic PVA air filter paper was prepared as controlled sample. SEM was used to observe the fiber morphology on the surface of the two composite filter papers. The contact angle of hydrophobic MPVA air filter paper (25:3) was 121.9°, and the filtration efficiency was increased to 99.9955 % and the filter initial resistance increased to 90 Pa.