Promoting Electrospun Lignin/PEO Nanofiber for High-Performance CO Filtration

In recent years, the development of air filter materials that are cheap, abundantly available in nature, environmentally friendly, and easy to process has attracted the attention of researchers. The current study produced lignin/PEO nanofiber using electrospinning method with the concentration of lignin from 5, 10 to 15 w/v%. The viscosity of PEO solution was 1790 mPas and decreased with the presence of lignin (5, 10 to 15 w/v%) into 345 mPas, 448 mPas, and 621 mPas, while the conductivity of lignin/PEO solution increased with the increasing lignin content. The thermal properties of lignin/PEO nanofiber were studied using DSC and TGA. SEM images showed that the diameter of the nanofiber of lignin/PEO decreased with increasing the concentration of lignin. FTIR analysis showed that there was a wide hydroxyl-stretching adsorption band of PEO shifted to a lower wavenumber region upon blending with lignin, indicating that a vast number of hydrogen bonds were formed between the lignin and PEO. The lignin nanofibers produced have porous fibers and are capable to filter CO gas. The maximum nanofiber was able to filter 88.89% efficiency of CO gas.