Recently, polymeric nanofibers have attracted increasing attention. Nano-sized fibers have good advantages in diameter, porosity, and especially in surface properties, such as high surface area. 1,2 The small pore sizes of the nanofibrous mats were confirmed to be essential for air permeability. In contrast to other materials, nanofibers have a wide range of applications including battery, 3 filtration, 4-7 drug delivery 8,9 and so on.Electrospinning is one of the common methods to prepare nanofibrous materials and has aroused much attention due to its efficiency and simplicity. 10,11 Many researchers have made great efforts to develop and modify the electrospinning technology. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is one of the common materials used in electrospinning for various applications. 12 The effects of temperature, amount of PAN, voltage on structure, and thermal properties have been studied. [13][14][15] To make the nanofibers antibacterial, antibacterial agents are introduced to PAN nanofibers creating a potential use in the area of biomedical materials.
AbstractThe main objective of this study was to develop antibacterial materials based on polyacrylonitrile for potential application in protective face masks to combat airborne pathogens. To achieve biocidal properties, 1-chloro-2, 2, 5, 5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone as a kind of N-halamine was introduced into the polyacrylonitrile nanofibers by an electrospinning technique to form nanofibers by an electrospinning technique to form polyacrylonitrile/1-chloro-2, 2, 5, 5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone-5% nanofibers. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy were employed to characterize the structure of nanofibers. The antimicrobial efficacies of electrospinning nanofibers with 1-chloro-2, 2, 5, 5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli O157:H7 were evaluated at different contact times. The antimicrobial efficacies against bioaerosol of S. aureus were also performed. The polyacrylonitrile/1-chloro-2, 2, 5, 5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone-5% nanofibers possess excellent antimicrobial efficacies against bacteria bioaersol, and it has good air permeability.