Formaldehyde, for instance, is one of the carcinogenic VOCs commonly found indoors and very hazardous even at lower concentrations. They can be carcinogenic, toxic and hazardous ( Hong et al., 2017 Tsai, 2016, 2019). Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) represent another type of air pollutants, perhaps more harmful than the visible aerosols ( Kadam, 2018 Bernstein et al., 2004). Smaller size particles cause higher risk to human health since they can be easily inhaled and penetrate the lungs without any resistance.
The particles having aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm are defined as PM2.5 while PM10 indicates aerosols of size 2.5–10 μm ( Kadam et al., 2018a). The severity of the hazard mainly depends on the aerodynamic diameter of the PM. Airborne solid/liquid droplets or aerosols, also known as particulate matter (PM), can cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases leading to cancer and death ( Qiu et al., 2015 Dai et al., 2015). The ubiquitous presence of air pollutants is taxing human health and hampering eco-system all over the globe ( Lelieveld et al., 2015 Kampa and Castanas, 2008). Gelatin/β–cyclodextrin nanofibers also have the potential to filter nano-sized viruses. This study provides a solution for a ‘green’ dual function respiratory air filtration at low resistance. VOC adsorption of gelatin/β–cyclodextrin nanofibers is found several times higher than a commercial face mask and pristine powder samples. They adsorbed great amount of xylene (287 mg/g), benzene (242 mg/g), and formaldehyde (0.75 mg/g) VOCs. Gelatin/β–cyclodextrin nanofibers captured aerosols (0.3–5 μm) with < 95% filtration efficiency at 0.029/Pa quality factor. This study reports gelatin/β–cyclodextrin composite nanofiber mats with dual function air filtration ability at reduced air resistance (148 Pa) and low basis weight (1 g/m²). It has been a challenge to filter both particulate matter and VOC pollutants by a common biodegradable filter media having low air resistance. Synthetic polymer-based air filter media not only has disposal issues but also is a source of air and water pollution at the end of their life cycle. The suspended solid/liquid particles in the air and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous.
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