High-temperature bearable polysulfonamide/polyacrylonitrile composite nanofibers for high-efficiency PM2.5 filtration

Polymer nanofibers have a great potential in PM2.5 filtration, but they generally cannot remove particulate matter (PM) particles directly from high-temperature sources due to their vulnerable structure. Polysulfonamide (PSA)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite nanofibers that can withstand a temperature up to 400 °C, were fabricated by a simple electrospinning method. The interactions between PSA and PAN defined the resulting microarchitecture and shape of the nanofibers when suffering heating. The PSA/PAN composite nanofibers exhibited above 99.7% removal efficiency for the PM2.5. More importantly, such a high PM2.5 removal efficiency was well retained even after heating the nanofibers at temperatures ranging between 100 °C and 400 °C. The nanofiber air filter could continuously work for 100 h in an environment with the concentration of PM2.5 approaching 380 μg/m3. The good thermal stability and high filtration efficiency of PSA/PAN nanofibers make them attractive in various applications, especially when high-temperature bearable polymer components are needed.