Electrospinning technology to upscale the production of low-cost and high-filtering functionalized polymer-based nanofibers providing photocatalytic activity for bacterial inactivation in advanced face mask

The importance to produce polymer-based membranes with suitable self-cleanable properties in preventing high risk of contamination on the fabric for long time usage has been becoming a relevant issues, especially in the last years when the pandemic outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have brought to a mass consumption of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face mask/respirators, which resulted in a potential source of further contamination from bacteria or virus. Modified electrospinning set-ups combined with modern textile techniques turned out to be an innovative way to manufacture nanofiber-based membrane showing high filtering performance against submicron pollution particles and suitable bioactive properties for tackling the current issues from bacterial contamination on PPE surfaces to the reusability of both disposable single use facemask and respirator’s filters [1]. With this paper we aim to provide further insight about the development of advanced electrospun nanofibrous photocatalytic membranes for large scale production. Investigation on the effects of processing variables on the fabrication of functionalized electrospun nanofibers embedded with active NPs for the scale-up line have been carried out by using Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and Raman spectroscopy analysis. In addition, photocatalytic disinfection for some bacteria strains, were conducted on the hybrid polymer-based membranes under UV-A light exposition by using the pristine electrospun membranes as control in the colony count method [2]. Finally, to provide a real perspective for the application of nanotextile in the manufacturing of advanced face mask on large-scale, both particle filtration and breathability test were also conducted on the nanofiber mats, in accordance with the standard required for Filtering Face Piece masks (FFP). [1] Cimini A., E. Imperi, A. Picano, M. Rossi. Electrospun nanofibers for medical face mask with protection capabilities against viruses: State of the art and perspective for industrial scale-up. Applied Materials Today, 2023, (32) 101833. [2] Q. Li, Y. Yin, D. Cao, Y. Wang, P. Luan, X. Sun, W. Liang, H. Zhu, Photocatalytic rejuvenation enabled self-sanitizing, reusable, and biodegradable masks against COVID-19, ACS Nano, 2021, 15 (7), 11992–12005.