Nano silver incorporated electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers and spun bonded polypropylene composite for aerosol filtration

Nowadays, nanofiber for filtration is drawing attention because of its large surface area and smaller pore size. In this study, aerosol filtration is carried out using nanocomposite filter made of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers with incorporated silver nanoparticles at different weight percentages of 5, 10, and 15 (based on the weight of polyacrylonitrile) sandwiched between polypropylene spun bonded nonwoven. Dimethylformamide acts as both solvent and reducing agent for polyacrylonitrile and the formation of silver nanoparticles, and the silver nanoparticles were characterized using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Further, Box–Behnken method was used to prepare filter media using areal density of nonwoven substrate, electrospinning time, and silver wt.% as process variables. Later, the developed filters were studied for aerosol filtration efficiency at face velocity of 5 cm/s against NaCl aerosol particles ranging from 0.3 to 10 µm, respectively, as well as studied for anti-bactericidal activity against gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria. From the study, the developed polyacrylonitrile/silver nanofiber filters possess 99% aerosol filtration efficiency with good anti-bactericidal activity, which potentially improves filter quality.