Hierarchically structured polysulfone/titania fibrous membranes with enhanced air filtration performance

• Innovative fabrication of hierarchically structured PSU/TiO2 fibrous membranes.
• Fractal dimensional analysis confirmed the irregular rough surface features.
• Correlation between hierarchical roughness and filtration performance was proposed.
• Two-tier composite medium showed enhanced fine particulate filtration performance.

Hierarchically structured, superhydrophobic filter medium exhibiting robust filtration performance to airborne particulate were prepared by a facile deposition of electrospun polysulfone/titania nanoparticles (PSU/TiO2 NPs) on a conventional nonwoven substrate. The air permeability, tensile strength and abrasion resistance of pristine PSU fibrous membranes could be finely controlled by regulating the solvent composition and number ratios of jets. By employing the TiO2 NPs incorporation, the pristine PSU fibers were endowed with promising superhydrophobicity with a water contact angle of up to 152°. The quantitative hierarchical roughness analysis using N2 adsorption method has confirmed the major contribution of TiO2 NPs on enhancing the porous structure and surface fractal features with irregular rough structure. Filtration performance studies have revealed that the filtration efficiency and pressure drop of resultant hybrid membranes could be manipulated by tuning the surface composition as well as the hierarchical structures. Furthermore, the as-prepared PSU/TiO2-5 membrane exhibited improved filtration efficiency (99.997%) and pressure drop (45.3 Pa) compared with pristine PSU membrane, which would make them a promising media for fine particle filtration, and a new insight was also provided into the design and development of high performance filter medium based on hierarchical structured fibers.

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