Synthesis of Electrospun Nanofibers Membrane and Its Optimization for Aerosol Filter Application

Abstract

Nanofibers membranes were synthesized using electrospinning method for air filtration application. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with three different concentrations as the polymeric matrix of the nanofibers membrane is used. In the aerosol filtration, the pressure drop is one of the most important parameters, which is determined by the membrane characteristics. One of the parameters that influence the characteristics of membrane is concentration of polymer solution, in which it will determine the diameter of fiber. In this study, the relation between the PAN concentration and the pressure drop in air filtration test was examined. Three different concentrations of PAN solution (6, 9, and 12 wt.%) were employed under the same process parameters of electrospinning. The fiber diameter distribution of each membrane was measured from its scanning electron microscope (SEM) image. The three concentrations resulted in significant different effect to the pressure drop that proved the existing correlation between the polymer concentration and the air pressure drop.

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