Effective capturing of co2 and pm2 5 using porous polymeric materials in air filtration

Abstract

In the current scenario, vehicular emission contributes to a substantial percentage of air pollution, which is building up to emergency levels. Therefore, serious efforts were made in controlling and capturing the post combustion products especially, CO2 and PM2.5 by focusing in the fabrication of high performance porous polymeric air filters. These air filters with highinterconnectedmorphology were produced via electrospinning and high internal phase emulsion template (HIPE) techniques.A two-tier structured PLLA / PVP-TiO2 (Poly L-lactide-TiO2nanoparticles (NPs) incorporated Polyvinylpyrrolidone) fibrous membrane forexcellent air filtration via sequential electrospinning technique has beenfabricated. Using titanium tetraisopropoxide as precursor, anatase phase TiO2nanoparticles were synthesised. Processing parameters were tuned duringoptimisation process. The fiber diameter of the electrospun PLLA, PVP,PLLA-PVP and PVP-TiO2 ultrathin fibers were in the range of 1.5 - 1.45 and#956;m, 1.58 - 2.08 and#956;m, 3.5 - 4.6 and#956;m and 1.8 - 2.2 and#956;m respectively. SEM images exposed the fibrous morphology and shape of the nanoparticles which were ranging from 90 to 105 nm. The degradation temperatures for pure PLLA, PVP and TiO2 NPs were found to be at 359 °C, 451 °C and 475 °C respectively. TiO2 NPs incorporated PVP fibers were found to be stable upto 437 °C. This two-tier membrane was endowed and ensured with outstanding thermal stability. The crystallinity of the electrospun fibers and the TiO2 NPs were confirmed from their characteristic 2and#952; values obtained from the X-ray diffraction studies. The FT-IR spectroscopy gave the structural analysis of the polymeric fibers and nanoparticles. Interaction of the polymer with nanoparticles and nanoparticles with the adsorbed gas molecules has been proved using newline