Branched nanofibers with tiny diameters for air filtration via one-step electrospinning

Engineering the surface morphology of fibers has been attracting significant consideration in various areas and applications. In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) branched nanofibers with a diameter of less than 50 nm are electrospun directly at a low relative humidity by adding tetrabutylammonium chloride. The effects of the branched structure on the specific surface area and pore size distribution are investigated, and the filtration properties of the air filter based on branched nanofiber webs with different basis weights are studied. The results exhibit that the air filter based on PVDF branched nanofibers with the basis weight of 1 g/m ² has an outstanding filtration efficiency (99.999%) to 0.26 µm sodium chloride particles under the pressure drop of 126.17 Pa. We believe that this study can be used as a useful reference for the preparation of branched nanofibers through one-step electrospinning.