Heat-Resistant Air Filters Based on Self-Sustained Electrostatic and Antibacterial Polyimide/Silver Fiber Mats

Air pollution containing microorganisms poses a major hazard to human health. It is critical to develop air filters that are both highly efficient for indoor use and suitable for use in industrial settings. Developing long-lasting electrostatic force-assisted filtration while keeping high-temperature resistance and antibacterial qualities is still challenging. Here, centrifugal spinning is used to fabricate fiber mats consisting of polyimide with silver incorporation (PI/Ag). The electrostatic force remained over -700 V after 330 days. The strong electrostatic effect improves the filtration efficiency, resulting in a high PM0.3 removal efficiency of 99.1% with a low-pressure drop of 103.67 Pa. The high filtration efficiency remains above 91.3% for PM0.3 after placing it for 330 days and heating it at 280 C-degrees. The PI/Ag fiber mats also show antimicrobial properties against the E. coli (Gram-negative) and S. aureus (Gram-positive) with prominent bacteriostatic zones >1.2 mm. The PI/Ag fiber mat filters are expected to have great potential for multi-scenario air filtration.