Electrically assisted solution blow spinning of PVDF/TPU nanofibrous mats for air filtration applications

Abstract

In this study, pure polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), pure thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and PVDF/TPU blend nanofibers (1:3, 2:2, 3:1 ratios) were produced via electrically assisted solution blow spinning for air filtration applications. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was conducted to investigate the diameters and morphology of nanofibers. The filtration performance of nanofibrous mats was examined by air filtration test with challenging with 0.26 ± 0.07 μm salt particles. Moreover, the flexibility and strength of the samples were determined via tensile tests. Results showed that pure TPU nanofibers had better mechanical properties, while pure PVDF nanofibers showed better filtration performance. However, 3PVDF/1TPU nanofibrous sample had high filtration efficiency (98.86%) close to pure PVDF (99.85%) and better flexibility (32.80% elongation) compared to pure PVDF (11.64% elongation).