Received: 15 February 2021 Revised: 13 May 2021 Accepted: 19 May 2021

DOI: 10.1002/nano.202100086

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Rational design of bacterial cellulose-based air filter with

antibacterial activity for highly efficient particulate matters
removal

Aifang Wu1 Xiaoming Hu1 Haiyong Ao1 Zejing Chen1 Zhaomiao Chu1
Tao Jiang2 Xiaoyan Deng1 Yizao Wan1
1 Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Nanobiomaterials & Institute of Advanced Materials, East China Jiaotong University, Nanchang 330013, China
2 School of Pharmacy, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, China

Correspondence
Xiaoming Hu, Xiaoyan Deng, and Yizao
Wan, Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Nanobio-
materials & Institute of Advanced Mate-
rials, East China Jiaotong University,
Nanchang 330013, China.
Email: xiaominghu1992@163.com;
dengxy1953@buaa.edu.cn;
yzwan@tju.edu.cn
Aifang Wu and Xiaoming Hu contributed
equally to this study.
Funding information
Jiangxi Province Department of Educa-
tion Science and technology research
project, China, Grant/Award Number:
GJJ190351; Natural Science Foundation
of Jiangxi Province, Grant/Award Num-
bers: 20181BAB205019, 20202BAB214012;
National Natural Science Foundation of
China, Grant/Award Number: 31760265
Abstract
Multifunctional air filters with efficient particulate matters (PMs) removal, low
respiratory resistance and prevention harmful substances are highly demanded.
Bacterial cellulose (BC) air filter can capture PMs and separate them from the
airflow; however, the dense network structure sacrifices the air permeability.
Herein, we incorporated silver nanowires (AgNW) to BC filter through in-situ
cultivation method to prepare a new air filter. The addition of AgNW endows
BC filter with antibacterial activity and increases the porosity and air permeabil-
ity. Surprisingly, AgNW incorporation achieves high-efficiency filtration through
electrostatic adsorption. The filtration efficiency of the BC/AgNW composite fil-
ter paper for PM2.5 and PM10 is as high as 99.7% and 99.8%, respectively, that
are on par with commonly used 3 M masks on the market. The pressure drop is
123 Pa, which can meet market demand with satisfaction. In addition, the tailor-
made BC/AgNW owns efficient antibacterial potency to keep the human body
from infecting germs and other interferences. Overall, this work indicated that
the versatile composite air filter paper is promising for various applications in
the environmental field and the critical need for human health.

KEYWORDS
air filter, antibacterial activity, bacterial cellulose, particulate matters, silver nanowire

1 INTRODUCTION matically threaten human health and influence the climate

as well as ecosystem. The lethality of particulate pollutants
In recent years, particulate matter (PM) pollutions have is distinguished mainly based on their diameter. Generally,
increasingly become an environmental issue which dra- PMs larger than 10 µm in diameter cannot enter the human

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.
© 2021 The Authors. Nano Select published by Wiley-VCH GmbH

Nano Select 2022;3:201–211. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/nano 201

202
lungs and will be effectively filtered and intercepted by the
respiratory organs.[1–3] The PMs with diameters of 2.5 to
10 µm and less than 2.5 µm are called PM10 and PM2.5,
respectively,[4] which impose threat to the human body,
mainly because they can easily penetrate the lungs with-
out resistance.[1,3,5]
Recent reports indicated that long-term exposure to
PMs environment might cause respiratory[6] and cardio-
vascular diseases,[7] such as myocardial infarction, stroke,
atherosclerosis, bronchitis, asthma, and so on. In addition,
these airborne chemicals, bacteria, microorganisms, and
viruses[8,9] generally take advantage of PMs as a carrier
to enter the human body, thereby bringing many diseases
and discomforts to humans.[10] The complex compo-
sition of airborne particles and toxic chemicals makes
polluted air more dangerous. To protect from nocuous
PM pollutions, people have to wear dust masks with high
filtration efficiency and effective anti-bacteria. To this
end, various materials have been developed rapidly, such
as polyacrylonitrile,[11–13] polyimide[14] and other polar
high molecular polymers,[15,16] though own considerable
filtration efficiency and low airflow resistance. However,
these materials exist certain inherent shortcomings. Their
raw materials are extracted from petroleum or chemical
synthesis; thus, inducing environmental in harmony. In
addition, their preparation process commonly suffers from
the complicated synthetic pathways. Other traditional fil-
ter materials for new air filters face the issue of secondary
pollution during the treatment process. Furthermore,
air filters are defined by their particle removal efficiency
and pressure drop to determine whether the filter meets
the eligible standard. However, high particle removal
efficiency usually comes at the expense of pressure drop
and corresponding high energy consumption. Moreover,
the filter is susceptible to microbial contamination during
long-term use, which not only causes additional health
problems,[17] but also increases the pressure drop as
bacteria continue to multiply on the surface of the filter
and penetrate into the filter. Thus, there is an urgent
need to develop an environment friendly bio-based mul-
tifunctional air filter material with high particle removal
efficiency, low pressure drop and antibacterial functions.
Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a nano-scale fiber secreted by
Acetobacter xylinum. In view of the large surface area and
ultra-fine three-dimensional network structure, BC was
widely used in cosmetics,[18] textiles,[19] tissue engineer-
ing, and some biomedical materials,[20–22] while BC used
in air filters has been less reported. Liu et al.[23] reported
a high-performance air filter which was prepared by com-
pounding modified soy protein and BC. The filter adsorbed
PMs through the numerous surface functional groups of
the modified soy protein and the three-dimensional net-
WU et al.
work structure of BC, while the adsorption efficiency
might suffer a major setback when the functional groups
adsorbed and saturated. This paradigm indicated that the
fine three-dimensional network structure of BC provides
great potential for the application of environmentally-
friendly air filters. Plentiful reports showed that small
diameter fiber possesses the much higher filtration effi-
ciency. When the fiber diameter is reduced to the
nanoscale size, the filtration efficiency of the fiber-based
filter can be greatly improved due to the increased con-
tact probability between the aerosol particles and the
fiber surface.[24–26] The microscopic morphology of BC is
an ultra-fine three-dimensional nano network structure,
which shows great superiority for air filter. In addition,
BC is a porous aerogel, which also possesses many supe-
rior advantages, such as large specific surface area, inter-
connected porous structure and flexible functions.[27] In a
word, the fine three-dimensional network structure of BC
provides great potential for the application of green multi-
functional air filters. Although BC possesses a unique net-
work structure that has become a major advantage of air
filters, the porosity is not enough to meet the requirements
of air filters, resulting in high pressure drop and poor
air permeability.[28] In addition, pristine BC lacks antimi-
crobial activity and hence does not prevent the growth
of invading microorganisms when used as filter material.
Therefore, developing porous and versatile BC-based com-
posite filter material with antibacterial effect is of extraor-
dinary significance in research and development of masks.
Based on the aforementioned consideration, this
study combined silver nanowires (AgNW) and biological
material BC through in-situ cultivation methods and
applied them to high-performance air filtration materials
with efficient antimicrobial property. The as-prepared
air filter exists an appreciable porosity and fine three-
dimensional network structure that shows a small air flow
resistance; thus, reducing the pressure drop. BC’s fine
three-dimensional nano network structure can initially
capture PMs and separate them from the airflow with
minimal energy consumption. The addition of AgNW
increases the porosity, which improves the shortcomings
of relatively poor air permeability of BC. In addition,
the slipstream effect reduces the friction between the
aerosol particles and the nanofibers; thus, resulting in
a smaller pressure drop. AgNW can also remove PMs
through electrostatic adsorption, so as to achieve high-
efficiency filtration. Combining the advantages of these
two materials, a new type of air filter with ultra-high
removal efficiency and low-pressure drop was obtained.
Meanwhile, in view of the integration of AgNW and BC
network, the tailor-made composite membrane possesses
an ideal antibacterial function.[29–31]
WU et al.
2 EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
2.1 Materials
AgNW was purchased from Hefei Microcrystalline Mate-
rials Technology Co. Ltd. (Hefei, China). Glucose, yeast
extract, tryptone, disodium phosphate and acetic acid were
offered by Oxoid Ltd., England. Strains of Trichobacillus
were sponsored by the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese
Academy of Sciences. Tert-butanol used for freeze-drying
BC was offered by Tianjin Damao Chemical Reagent
Factory.
2.2 Preparation of medium
BC fermentation broth was prepared by putting 20.0 g
glucose, 7.5 g yeast powder, 10.0 g peptone and 10.0 g
Na2 HPO4 in 1 L deionized water. These compositions were
fully stirred and dissolved at normal atmospheric tempera-
ture to make them mix perfectly and evenly. The pH value
of culture medium was adjusted to 4.0 ∼ 5.0 by adding
glacial acetic acid into the solution and then sterilized at
high temperature and high pressure.
2.3 Fabrication of BC filter
Inoculate 2 mL of Acetobacter xylinum suspension into
each well of a 5 cm × 6 cm 12-well plate under aseptic
conditions. After 24 hours of culturing in a biochemical
incubator, 500 µL of medium was added every 2 hours. The
processes include repeated spraying and in-situ growth
of BC until a predetermined thickness (1.0 ∼ 3.0 mm
depending on the usage) is achieved. The harvested
BC pellicles were boiled in NaOH solution followed by
thorough washing with deionized water. The obtained
pellicles were freeze-dried for 24 hours, yielding BC filter.
2.4 Preparation of BC/AgNW filter
membrane
BC/AgNW filter membrane was cultured by the original
membrane-liquid interface culture method which was cre-
ated by our research group. The AgNW dispersion was
added to BC culture medium for the purpose of prepar-
ing culture media with different volume ratios: 0.5:10,
1:10, 2.5:10, and 4:10, and ultrasound increased the dis-
persion of silver nanowires. Five composite materials
with different concentration gradients were cultured by
203
membrane culture method, which were labeled as BC,
BC/AgNW-1, BC/AgNW-2, BC/AgNW-3, and BC/AgNW-
4, respectively. The schematic diagram of preparation pro-
cess is shown in the Scheme 1. The rewarded BC/AgNW
hydrogel was soaked in 0.1 mol L-1 sodium hydroxide
solution for 120 minutes at 60◦ C water bath which was
designed to rinse the bacterial fragments. Then thoroughly
washed with deionized water repeatedly to neutrality, and
then freeze-dried for 24 hours to obtain BC/AgNW air
filter.
2.5 PM2.5 generation and filtration test
The samples are fixed in the middle of the left and right
chambers, the polluted air which has high particulate mat-
ters is produced by burning incense.[29] The concentration
of particulate matter before and after filtration was simu-
lated by using Mini laser PM2.5 detector (SDL307, Shan-
dong Nuofang Electronic Technology Co. Ltd.), the device
is shown in Figure 1A,B. The filtration efficiency calcula-
tion formula is as follows:
𝐶1
𝜂 = 1− (1)
𝐶2
Where η shows air filtration efficiency, C1 shows the PMs
concentration after filtration, and C2 shows the PMs con-
centration before filtration, µg m-3 .
2.6 Pressure drop test
The pressure drop was tested by using differential pres-
sure gauge (TA8520, Suzhou TEAN Electronics Co. Ltd.).
As shown in Figure 1A, the sample was made into the size
of 5 × 6 cm for testing. Before the pressure drop test, air
flow is introduced from the left cham and flows out from
the right chamber to detect the seal property of the device.
2.7 Quality factor
The quality factor (Qf ) is defined as:
−In(1 − 𝜂)
Qf =
Δ𝑃
where ΔP is the pressure drop across the filter. Qf repre-
sents the ratio between filtration efficiency measure and
pressure drop. A filter with greater filtration efficiency
and/or lower pressure drop than another will have higher
Qf . Thus, a filter of better quality has larger Qf .
204 WU et al.

SCH EME 1 Schematic illustration of the preparation of BC/AgNW filter with antibacterial activity for highly efficient PMs removal

F I G U R E 1 A, The photograph of PMs filtration, pressure drop and gas flow test device. B, Schematic illustration of PMs filtration,
pressure drop and gas flow test. C, FTIR spectra of the burned incense smoke

2.8 Structures of BC/AgNW film
The micromorphology of BC and BC/AgNW composite
materials were observed under the conditions of work-
ing voltage of 5 kV and vacuum of 1.5 × 10−4 Pa by
scanning electron microscope (SEM, SU8010, Hitachi Ltd.,
Japan). The composite material was placed in an oven and
designed to dry the moisture at 65◦ C for 12 hours. A total
reflection Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (ATR-
FTIR, Nicolet 6700, Thermo Electron Corporation, USA)
was used to test the chemical composition of the material
in the range of 4000-400 cm−1 .
WU et al.
2.9 Preparation of bacterial culture
medium
Tryptone (15 g), soy peptone (5 g) and sodium chloride (5 g)
were dissolving in 50 mL of deionized water. Furthermore,
stirring until completely dissolved and adjusting the pH
value of the mixtures to between 7.1 and 7.3 with sodium
hydroxide. Take it out after autoclaving at 121◦ C for 30 min-
utes and set aside.
2.10 Preparation of PBS solution
The PBS solution was composed of 0.2 g KCl, 8 g NaCl,
1.56 g Na2 HPO4 ⋅12H2 O and 0.2 g KH2 PO4 , and dissolved
them in 1 L distilled water. The obtained PBS was sterilized
at high temperature (121◦ C) and high pressure (150 kPa),
then stored at room temperature for later use.
2.11 Acquisition and cultivation of
bacteria
The Staphylococcus aureus strain (ATCC 25923) used in
this entire journey was purchased from the American
Standard Bacteria Bank. After the frozen strains were
quickly thawed, they were inoculated on tryptone culture
plates (TSA) by streaking under aseptic conditions, and
placed in a constant temperature biochemical incubator
at 37◦ C for static culture for 24 hours. A single colony
was inoculated into a 50 mL centrifuge tube containing
10 mL tryptone medium (TSB), and then cultured in a
constant temperature shaker (150 rpm, 37◦ C) for 12 hours
under aerobic conditions. Bacterial suspension (1 mL) was
sucked into a 1.5 mL centrifuge tube with a pipette, cen-
trifuge for 5 minutes, and determines the concentration of
bacterial suspension at this time according to Macmillan
turbidimetry. At last, the bacterial concentration was
adjusted to 1 × 106 CFUs mL-1 by aseptic TSB for later use.
2.12 Coated plate counting experiment/
Colony forming unit (CFU) method
As silver nanoparticles have strong cytotoxicity to a vari-
ety of microorganisms, they have gradually become the
most widely commercialized nanomaterials. In this study,
we provide two typical gram-negative and positive bac-
teria, S. aureus (ATCC 25923) and E. coli (ATCC 8739),
were used to determine the antibacterial activity of differ-
ent samples. Coating plate counting experiments of BC,
BC/AgNW-1, BC/AgNW-2, BC/AgNW-3, and BC/AgNW-
4 materials were carried out according to the following
205
methods: putting the above six sterile materials in 24-well
plates, then sucking 1 mL bacterial suspension into the
above well plates. These 24-well plates were transferred in
an incubator (37◦ C) for 24 hours. After co-cultivation, the
samples were taken out and washed with PBS for 3 times to
remove non-adherent bacteria. First, the bacteria adhered
to the surface of the material were eluted by ultrasonic
vibration cleaning; then, diluted by multiple ratios, finally
coated. The culture dish was cultured in a constant tem-
perature biochemical incubator at 37◦ C for 24 hours and
counted.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Preparation and characterization of
BC air filter
In order to evaluate the PMs filtration effect of as-prepared
filter materials, we conducted the PMs filtration test on
these composite membranes via detecting the PMs concen-
tration before and after filtration. Figure 1A,B showed the
PM filtration test, pressure drop and gas flow test device.
The air filter membrane was fixed at the junction of the
two chambers. The pressure drop and flow were measured
by a pressure gauge and gas flow meter, respectively. PMs
smoke was generated through burning incense. PMs pos-
sess a wide variety of particle size distribution. Herein, we
mainly focused on the filtration efficiency of PM2.5 and
PM10. Numerous reports showed PMs generated smoke
contained a variety of pollutants, such as CO, CO2 , NO2 ,
SO2 , and so on.[29,32,33] Hence, the burned incense ash was
characterized by FTIR analysis to prove the feasibility for
acting as PMs. Figure 1C displayed that the FTIR spec-
trum possesses an obvious peak at 1406 cm−1 , indicating
the existence of C=O and C=N bonds. The peaks at 1110
and 1048 cm−1 were attributed to the stretching vibration
of C–O. Coincidentally, these results demonstrated that
these C=O, C–O, and C–N functional groups were also
distributed on the surface of PM particles.[34,35] In other
words, the burned incense smoke acting as PMs for eval-
uating the filtration effect of as-prepared filter materials is
feasible and available.
In this study, we first employed three drying methods:
natural air drying, freeze-drying with tert-butanol and
freeze-drying without tert-butanol to prepare BC filter
paper. Among them, the method of natural air drying to
form a film made the prepared BC form a dense structure
with high pressure drop and poor air permeability. Freeze-
drying without soaking tert-butanol can retain the original
pore size, while the air permeability was poor. Importantly,
freeze-drying by soaking tert-butanol was capable of main-
taining the original three-dimensional network structure
206 WU et al.

F I G U R E 2 A, The as-prepared BC air filter paper is used for blocking the diffusion of smoke from the left bottle to the right bottle. B,
The photographs of the BC air filter paper before and after filtration test. C, SEM images of BC filter paper before (a) and after filtering PMs
(b: top surface, c: cross-section, and d: bottom surface)

of BC; thus, giving rise to the lower pressure drop (Figure
S1A). Subsequently, we studied the effect of different thick-
nesses of BC on the removal efficiency and pressure drop of
PMs in the air. As shown in Figure S1B, as the thickness of
BC increases, the pressure drop gradually increases, while
filtration efficiency possesses minor alternation. High
particle removal efficiency usually comes at the expense of
pressure drop. Therefore, it is very necessary to find the bal-
ance point between pressure drop and filtration efficiency.
Results indicated the thinner BC possesses better air per-
meability, while the filtration efficiency is less sacrificed.
Therefore, the approach of freeze-drying with tert-butanol
was used to dry the filter material, and the material
with a thickness of 1 mm was adapted for subsequent
research.
To visualize the adsorption process of PMs, we tested the
filtration of the BC filter paper through a simple device,
and the results showed the prepared BC filter paper can
effectively prevent the smoke from spreading from the
left side to the right side or outside space (Figure 2A).
As shown in Figure 2B, after 30 minutes of filtration test
experiment, the right bottle was still clean and transpar-
ent, and the filter paper on the surface of the filter material
changed from white to light yellow, and the color changed
obviously, which proved that BC can effectively filter par-
ticulates in the air. In addition, to further evaluate the
WU et al. 207

F I G U R E 3 A, The removal efficiency of BC and BC/AgNW air filter paper. B, The pressure drop of BC and BC/AgNW air filter paper. C,
The porosity of BC and BC/AgNW air filter paper. D, The removal efficiency of BC/AgNW air filter and commercial filter (common cotton
mask and 3 M-DKZ20). E, The pressure drop of BC/AgNW air filter and commercial filter (common cotton mask and 3 M-DKZ20). F,
Filtration efficiency evaluation of BC/AgNW filter mask and common cotton mask after 5-minutes exposure in high concentration of PM2.5.
G, The filtration efficiency of BC/AgNW air filter in different air velocity. H, The pressure drop of BC/AgNW air filter in different air velocity.
I, Filtration efficiency evaluation of BC/AgNW air filter under various pollution conditions

filtration performance of BC filter paper, the microscopic
images of filter materials before and after filtering PMs
were recorded. Figure 2C displayed the SEM images of the
top surface, cross-section, and bottom surface of BC fil-
ter paper after filtering PM2.5. The SEM images showed
that the upper layer of the filter paper adsorbed the most
PM2.5 particles, mainly because most of the PMs were
intercepted by the unique three-dimensional network pos-
sessed by the BC itself, preventing the passage of PMs.
The PMs adsorbed by the middle and lower layers of the
BC filter paper was significantly reduced, indicating that
the PMs have been effectively intercepted by the BC net-
work, and the filtration efficiency of the BC filter paper for
PM2.5 and PM10 was greater than 98.0%. Thus, BC filter
paper possesses considerable filtration efficiency mainly
because these large particles were intercepted by BC’s
three-dimensional network through physical interception
and inertial collision.
3.2 Preparation and characterization of
BC/AgNW air filter
Although the BC composite filter paper possesses sat-
isfactory air filtration capabilities, the intrinsic low air
permeability dramatically limits its further development
for commercial masks. Herein, a nanocomposite of BC
nanofibers and silver nanowires (AgNW) intertwined
was prepared by in-situ composite culture. The addition
of AgNW can effectively increase the porosity of BC to
reduce pressure drop; thus, increasing air permeability.
We prepared five BC/AgNW-based filter papers with
different AgNW concentrations and denoted them as BC,
BC/AgNW-1, BC/AgNW-2, BC/AgNW-3 and BC/AgNW-
4. Figure 3A showed that as the concentration of AgNW
increases, the filtration efficiency of BC/AgNW filter
papers first increases and then decreases. While the
pressure drop gradually decreases as the AgNW increases.
208
The addition of AgNW can adsorb small particles by elec-
trostatic adsorption way (Figure S2); thus, improving the
filtration efficiency of composite filter paper. Meanwhile,
BC aerogel has a high specific surface area, which greatly
increases the probability of aerosol particles depositing on
the surface of the fiber. With the increase of AgNW concen-
tration, the specific surface area gradually decreases (Fig-
ure S3), and the probability of particle collision with fiber
gradually decreases. In addition, the high concentration
of AgNW reduces its porosity and reduces the chance of
PMs being intercepted by the three-dimensional network,
thereby causing a drop in filtration efficiency. AgNW can
effectively increase the porosity of BC to lower the pressure
drop (Figure 3B). The pore size gradually increases with
the concentration of the AgNW (Figure S4), so that the gas
permeability gradually increases, which is consistent with
the result of the reduction of the pressure drop mentioned
above. Results indicated BC/AgNW-2 possessed the
optimized filtration performance, as well as the relatively
reliable air permeability and pressure drop. The filtration
efficiency of the composite filter paper for PM2.5 and PM10
is as high as 99.7% and 99.8%, respectively, and the pres-
sure drop is 123 Pa. In addition, Figure 3C indicated the
adjustment of AgNW can also increase the porosity. As the
concentration of AgNW increases, the porosity of the BC
filter paper gradually increases (from 83% to 95%), and the
pressure drop decreases step by step, which is consistent
with the results in the Figure 3B. Then we systematically
studied the filtration efficiency and pressure drop of
BC/AgNW-2 filter paper and three commercial respirators
for PM2.5 and PM10. As shown in Figure 3D, the filtration
efficiency of BC/AgNW-2 mask is 1.8 times and 1.6 times
that of ordinary medical masks, which is close to the com-
mercial 3 M masks on the market. In addition, the pressure
drops of BC/AgNW-2 mask is 124 Pa, which is lower than
176 Pa for commercial masks of similar thickness (Fig-
ure 3E). In addition, after 5-minute exposure in high con-
centration of PM2.5, BC/AgNW filtration mask showed
conspicuous PM2.5 removal property, and less than 0.6%
PMs were not captured. By contrast, the common cotton
mask indicated that only 64.6% of PMs were cleared after
300-second exposure in the atmosphere of PM2.5 (Fig-
ure 3F). All of these results demonstrated the tailor-made
BC/AgNW air filter possesses the efficient PMs removal.
We also investigated the effect of air velocity on removal
efficiency and pressure drop. As shown in Figure 3G, the
removal efficiency of PM2.5 and PM10 decreases slowly
with the increase of air flow rate. This phenomenon may
be due to the increase of airflow velocity which reduces
the degree of diffusion of PM particles in BC/AgNW
air filter paper, thereby reducing the chance of collision
between particles and fibers. In addition, the pressure drop
increases almost linearly with the increase in air velocity.
WU et al.
In the range of 2-12 L min-1 , the pressure drop increases
from 23 to 255 Pa as the airflow velocity increases (Fig-
ure 3H). Furthermore, the removal efficiency of BC/AgNW
air filter paper at various initial PM2.5 mass concentra-
tions was further evaluated. As presented in Figure 3I,
under all test conditions (light pollution: 75-115 µg m-3 ;
moderate pollution: 115-150 µg m-3 ; severe pollution: 150-
250 µg m-3 ; severe pollution: >250 µg m-3 ), the removal effi-
ciency is both higher than 95%, indicating that the prepared
BC/AgNW filter paper possesses high air filtration perfor-
mance under various pollution conditions. Furthermore,
the overall filtration performance of the material consid-
ering both the removal efficiency and pressure drop can
be evaluated by the quality factor (Qf ). Moreover, the Qf
of the BC/AgNW-2 air filter paper is higher than that of
the commercial breathing mask with a similar flow rate.
The optimal BC/AgNW-2 air filter paper shows a higher
Qf value than those of the BC/AgNW filter, as shown in
the Figure S5.
To further research the adsorption process of BC/AgNW
filter membranes for PMs, the SEM images of filter materi-
als before and after filtering PMs were recorded. Figure 4A
showed the SEM images of BC/AgNW-2 before and after
PMs filtration. Before filtration, the AgNW and the BC
nanofibers were evenly twined and equably distributed in
the BC membrane. The highly porous network structure
and high specific surface area enable some bigger PM
particles to be captured and attached to the nanofibers,
and some smaller PM particles aggregated on the brighter
AgNW fibers and tightly adsorbed on the nanofibers.[31]
The date indicated that the AgNW can adsorb PMs
through electrostatic adsorption, making it possess good
filtration performance. Subsequently, the air filter paper
filtered for different time were characterized by FTIR anal-
ysis, as shown in Figure 4B, the FTIR spectrum peaks of
BC/AgNW filter membranes before filtering were at 3348,
2890, 1640, and 1061 cm−1 , respectively. The absorption
peaks that appear are the characteristic peak –OH peak
–CH asymmetric stretching vibration peak of BC/AgNW,
the H2 O peak on the BC and the stretching vibration peak
of C-O-C.[36] After filtering for 10 and 30 minutes, the
intensity of the absorption peaks at 1630 and 1386 cm−1 is
significantly increased, while the absorption peaks at 1630
and 1386 cm−1 correspond to the main air pollutant parti-
cles. The functional groups C=O and C-N,[31,37] it can be
seen that BC/AgNW filter membrane has a certain filtering
effect on particulate matter, and the peak intensity after
filtration has also increased, which is consistent with the
experimental results of filtration efficiency. Moreover, we
further evaluated the long-term filtration performance of
BC/AgNW filter paper. Figure 4C demonstrated the filtra-
tion efficiency of PM2.5 and PM10 were both higher than
98% under all test time points, indicating that the prepared
WU et al.
F I G U R E 4 A, SEM images of BC/AgNW filter paper before (a) and after (b) filtration test. B, FTIR spectra of BC/AgNW filter paper
before and after filtration test at 10 and 30 minutes. C, The long-term filtration performance evaluation of BC/AgNW filter paper. D, The
long-term pressure drop evaluation of BC/AgNW filter paper
BC/AgNW filter paper has long-term filtration stability.
The slightly increased pressure drop may be caused by
residual particles; thus, increasing air resistance. There-
fore, the superior filtration potency, satisfactory pressure
drop and long-term stability of the as-prepared BC/AgNW
composite membrane greatly prompted it for further
applications of environmental protection.
3.3 Antibacterial activity assessment
PMs in the air cause harm to the human respiratory
system. Besides, airborne chemicals, bacteria, microor-
ganisms, and viruses use particulate matter as carriers to
enter the human body, causing many diseases and discom-
fort to humans and other organisms. In addition, wearing
a mask for a long time will cause the growth of bacteria
on the surface of the mask, so it is very necessary for the
air filter to own antibacterial properties. The addition of
AgNW can effectively solve the sterilization problem.[38]
We determined the antibacterial activity of BC/AgNW
209
filter paper against E. coli and S. aureus through the
method of plate count.[39,40] As shown in Figure 5A,
BC/AgNW possessed obvious antibacterial activity and
the antibacterial rate showed effective improvement as the
concentration of AgNW increases. By contrast, BC filter
paper exhibited the negligible anti-bacteria, mainly owing
to the lack of antimicrobial agents. Figure 5B showed the
quantized results of the coating count of E. coli and S.
aureus co-cultured with BC, BC/AgNW-1, BC/AgNW-2,
BC/AgNW-3 as well as BC/AgNW-4 after 24 hours, which
indicated that BC/AgNW-2 possessed an inhibitory rate of
over 85% against E. coli and S. aureus,[41,42] certifying that
the tailor-made BC/AgNW-2 possessed a high antibacte-
rial activity. Therefore, the prepared BC/AgNW filter paper
is a promising biological multifunctional air filter paper.
4 CONCLUSION
In summary, we rationally designed and successfully pre-
pared a novel and multifunctional BC/AgNW air filter for
210
F I G U R E 5 A, The antibacterial activity assessment of BC and BC/AgNW filter paper against E. coli and S. aureus. B, The antibacterial
rate of BC/AgNW filter paper against E. coli and S. aureus. C, Schematic illustration the as-prepared air filter paper for anti-bacteria. The filter
material can effectively kill bacteria
highly efficient PMs removal and antibacterial application.
In this work, we presented the environmental application
demonstration of AgNW percolation network, which can
effectively overcome the weaknesses of BC acting as air
filter. On the one hand, the introduction of AgNW can
effectively increase the porosity of BC to reduce pressure
drop; thus, increasing air permeability. On the other hand,
AgNW can adsorb small particles by electrostatic adsorp-
tion way, thereby improving the filtration efficiency of
composite filter paper. In addition, AgNW endowed the
air filter with high-performance antibacterial potency so
as to protect the human body from infecting germs and
other interferences. The composite filter paper BC/AgNW
possessed high filtration efficiency, low respiratory resis-
tance, fine long-term structural stability, as well as excel-
lent bactericidal performance. This work emphasized the
design methodology of composite materials to perfect the
WU et al.
filtration efficiency and pressure drop of air filter for vastly
effective PMs removal.
AC K N OW L E D G M E N T S
The authors greatly appreciate the financial support from
the Jiangxi Province Department of Education Science and
technology research project, China (GJJ190351), Natural
Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (20181BAB205019,
20202BAB214012), and National Natural Science Founda-
tion of China (31760265).
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
D A T A AVA I L A B I L I T Y S T A T E M E N T
Research data are not shared.
WU et al.
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S U P P O RT I N G I N F O R M AT I O N
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How to cite this article: A. Wu, X. Hu, H. Ao, Z.
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