Natural filter: Adjustable hydrophobicity from biodegradable zein nanofiber membrane for high efficiency air purification

Faced with the fact that air filtration materials prepared from traditional petroleum-based materials do not have good biodegradability and have the risk of causing secondary pollution to the environment, a kind of nanofiber membrane with biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) and zein was prepared by electrospinning method. The morphology of as-prepared membrane was carried out along with filtration performance and degradation performance both experimentally and theoretically. The results showed that the hydrophobicity of nanofiber membrane can be adjusted by changing the ratio of PLA and zein. In addition, the highest filtration efficiency for PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ was achieved when the ratio of PLA to zein was 1:1, and it could be stabilized at 98.14 % and 97.39 %, and had the highest quality factor (QF) of 0.00738 Pa⁻¹. Moreover, the fiber membrane has excellent adsorption effect on aqueous particles as well as oily particles. Notably, the as-prepared composite filter can be easily biodegraded thus contributing to green ecological environment.