Ultrathin, ultralight dual-scale fibrous networks with high infrared transmittance for high-performance, comfortable and sustainable PM0.3 air filter

Abstract

Abstract Ultrathin, ultralight and radiative cooling fiber filter contributes to its wearing comfort and sustainability of raw materials. Nevertheless, to simultaneously endow the filter with above merits and ability of efficiently removing highly permeable particulate matter (PM) is still riddled with challenges. Herein, a facile yet massive strategy is developed to controllably prepare the high-performance, comfortable and sustainable filter with infrared transmittance of more than 80%. By tailoring the antibacterial surfactant-triggered splitting of charged jets, the hierarchically dual-scale fibrous networks, consisting of continuous nanofibers (44 ± 12 nm) and submicron-fibers (159 ± 32 nm), are fabricated by one-step electrospinning technique. Due to the unique structural characteristics, the membrane presents extremely low thickness of 1.49 µm (only 55 times thinner than single human hair) and base weight of 0.57 g/m2 (over 35 times lighter than commercial melt-blown filters) but superior protective performances (over 99.95% PM0.3 removal, excellent and durable antibacterial ability). Meanwhile, it possesses prominent wearing comfort of low air resistance (120 Pa), high heat dissipation (8.4 ℃ lower than N95 mask) and moisture permeability (9653 g/m2·24 h). More significantly, the ultralight filter can save more than 97% raw materials than commercial N95 nonwovens, enabling itself to be the sustainable and economic candidate for core protective materials. This work may offer a new paradigm for developing advanced and sustainable personal proteceive materials.