Cellulose acetate nanofiber electrospun on nylon substrate as novel composite matrix for efficient, heat-resistant, air filters

The filtration efficiency of stacked layers is analyzed at variable thickness of the building block element. An electrospun membrane of above 60 μm thickness, combined with the selected substrate, increases the QF and improve its reproducibility. The QF can be further increased with an optimized porosity of the nylon substrate. The best QF of 0.080±0.050 Pa−1 at 300 nm was obtained by spinning a 14 wt% CA solution in an acetone- DMSO-acetic acid solvent mixture on a nylon grid with 100 μm mesh size producing fleeces with a very low pressure drop (7 Pa). Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) and SEM imaging demonstrated the stability of the composite filter morphology up to 200 °C.